Attorney General Merrick Garland on Thursday appointed a special counsel to investigate the presence of classified documents found at President Joe Biden's home in Wilmington, Delaware, and at an office in Washington, D.C.
Below is a timeline of the events in the case.
- Nov. 2: Lawyers find classified documents in a locked closet in the offices of the Penn Biden Center in Washington.
- Nov 4: A Justice Department prosecutor first learns about Biden's classified documents from the National Archives' Office of the Inspector General.
- Nov. 8: Midterm elections.
- Nov. 9: DOJ begins an assessment to determine whether classified information had been mishandled in violation of federal law.
- Nov. 14: Garland selects John Lausch, a Trump-appointed U.S. attorney, to conduct a preliminary investigation of the material to determine whether a special counsel is needed.
- Dec. 20: Biden lawyers notify Lausch that additional classified documents were found in the garage of his Wilmington, Delaware, home.
- Jan. 5: Lausch finishes his initial investigation and concludes a special counsel appointment is warranted.
- Jan. 9: Biden lawyers announce publicly that sensitive documents were found at the office of his former institute in Washington.
- Jan. 10: Media reports say memos and briefing materials covering topics including Ukraine, Iran, and the United Kingdom were included among the 10 classified documents found in a Washington, D.C., office.
- Jan 10: Biden says he was surprised when informed government records were found by his attorneys at his former office space in Washington.
- Jan. 10: Rep. Mike Turner, R- Ohio, the top Republican on the House Intelligence Committee, requests that the U.S. intelligence community conduct a "damage assessment" of potentially classified documents found in the office space of the institute.
- Jan. 11: NBC News reports that at least one additional batch of classified documents were found in a location separate from the Washington, D.C., office Biden used after serving as vice president.
- Jan. 12: Biden lawyers notify DOJ of another document at the Wilmington house.
- Jan. 12: Biden acknowledges that a document with classified markings from his time as vice president was found in his personal library.
- Jan. 12: Garland appoints Robert Hur, the former Trump-appointed U.S. attorney in Maryland, as special counsel to investigate.
The discovery of classified documents at Biden's former office and his home drew comparisons to the FBI's search of former President Donald Trump's Mar-a-Lago property in August.
Garland previously announced a separate special counsel in that investigation.
The Hill, The New York Times, and The Associated Press contributed to this story.
© 2025 Newsmax. All rights reserved.