Biden Hasn’t Been Interviewed Yet In Classified Docs Probe, Sources Say

 President Joe Biden has yet to provide an interview for the Department of Justice (DOJ) investigation into his handling of classified documents, according to three sources familiar with the matter.

Sources told NBC News there are few signs that the inquiry into Biden is winding down, a stark contrast to the probes into former Vice President Mike Pence and former President Donald Trump over their handling of classified materials after leaving office.

These three insiders said Biden’s advisers have decided Biden will provide an interview to the investigating special counsel, Robert Hur, but only when terms are agreed upon between Biden’s legal team and the DOJ. The sources stressed that the absence of an interview with the person under scrutiny indicates the investigation is not close to being completed, as such a discussion would be expected as a final step.

Biden’s team said they found about 10 records marked classified while clearing out Biden’s office at a D.C. think tank in the days before the 2022 midterms, although that discovery was not made public until January, when CBS News broke the story of a DOJ inquiry.

Since then, searches by Biden’s lawyers and the FBI have taken place at Biden’s home in Wilmington, Delaware, and his beach house in Rehoboth, Delaware, which have turned up more materials of interest to investigators.

Some of the documents found in locations linked to Biden date back not only to his time as vice president but also to his tenure as a U.S. senator. Biden’s representatives have insisted that they have been cooperative with investigators.

 

Pence’s legal team announced last week that the DOJ determined it would not pursue criminal charges against him in a separate inquiry focused on classified records found at his Indiana home. A source told NBC News that Pence had been interviewed as part of the investigation and cleared of wrongdoing.

Trump announced Thursday evening the Biden administration had informed his attorneys that he had been indicted, “seemingly over the Boxes Hoax.” He denies wrongdoing, claiming he declassified documents in his possession before leaving office and had a right to take them.

Attorneys for Trump visited the DOJ on Monday as special counsel Jack Smith reportedly neared a charging decision on the storage of classified records and obstruction of justice by resisting the government’s efforts to retrieve the materials, which included a raid of the former president’s Mar-a-Lago home in Florida last summer.

Both Trump and Pence are now 2024 candidates for president, looking to take on Biden in the general election.