There's another new twist in President Joe Biden's classified document scandal as new reporting from CBS News — one of the first outlets to report the existence of a federal investigation into his mishandling of sensitive materials — reveals that the FBI searched the Penn Biden Center offices in November 2022, but no one disclosed the search to the American people.
This latest revelation is another damning indictment of President Biden and his administration's failure to "bring transparency and truth back to the government" as the White House pledged it would do on day one.
Here's the latest piece of Biden's scandal to come to light via CBS News' report:
The FBI searched the Penn Biden Center offices in mid-November, according to two sources familiar with the investigation, after lawyers for President Biden had found about 10 documents marked classified there on Nov. 2. The material originated from Mr. Biden's time as vice president.
It is not clear whether FBI personnel found any additional classified or presidential material during the mid-November sweep.
Two sources told CBS News the search was conducted with the cooperation of Mr. Biden's representatives. A search warrant was not sought.
Mr. Biden used the 6th-floor office space near the Capitol periodically between 2017 and 2019. The Penn Biden Center for Diplomacy and Global Engagement opened its doors in 2018.
The FBI search of the think tank was not previously disclosed by the White House, Mr. Biden's personal attorneys, or the Department of Justice.
So yet again the drip, drip, drip of Biden's classified document scandal continues to reveal even more that was apparently willfully kept from the American people in stark contrast to how the Archives, FBI, and DOJ handled former President Donald Trump's classified documents.
It also presents more evidence that the Biden administration may have at one point thought they'd be able to conceal the existence of mishandled classified documents altogether, or at least obfuscate the number or location of documents that Biden kept from his time as VP and in the U.S. Senate.
And remember, when asked if President Biden was trying to cover-up the scandal, White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre wouldn't deny such an attempt was made.
When, more recently, the FBI searched Biden's residence in Wilmington, Delaware, the White House disclosed the fact the next day — so why were the American people kept in the dark about the November search of the Penn Biden Center office? And were there other FBI searches that took place between the first discovery of classified documents before the midterms last November and when Americans were finally made aware that Biden has mishandled the sensitive materials?
Yet again, the Biden administration's near-complete lack of transparency means there are still more questions than answers.
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