(Luis Cornelio, Headline USA) Never-before-published photos offer a glimpse into how the FBI handled its searches for classified materials at Joe Biden’s Delaware home and the “Biden Center” in Washington, D.C., prompting critics to compare the orderly appearance of the searches with the chaotic raid of President Donald Trump’s Mar-a-Lago estate.
The more than 70 photographs of the Biden-related searches, released Monday by the Oversight Project, include images of binders and folders that appear to have been left largely undisturbed inside wooden cabinets. The Oversight Project obtained the files through months-long Freedom of Information Act lawsuits and handed the photos to The Federalist, which published them Monday.
Some binders include wording suggesting they may be tied to political campaigns. However, the Oversight Project said that other files appear related to policy or government matters, including potentially classified topics.
One binder is labeled “Background Reading” for an Ireland speech and contains a policy briefing book dated June 16, 2015. One binder includes a page titled “Russia.”
Let that sink in: federal bureaucrats fought us in court for years to keep these photos hidden from the American people.
Ask yourself why. The answer is in this thread. pic.twitter.com/buSDwVmFuD
— Oversight Project (@ItsYourGov) September 21, 2026
The photos were taken during FBI searches conducted in connection with Biden’s handling of classified materials from his time as vice president in the Obama administration. The matter was the subject of a criminal investigation by Special Counsel Robert Hur, who was appointed by Biden’s attorney general, Merrick Garland.
The FBI discovered classified documents at the Penn Biden Center in Washington, D.C., in November 2022 and at Biden’s Wilmington home on Jan. 20, 2023.
Biden avoided criminal charges after Hur claimed that there was insufficient evidence to obtain a conviction, despite the presence of classified materials.
Among the folders placed inside a cabinet were ones named “Foreign Policy,” “Obama,” “UD Policy/Domestic” and “Iraq-Syria.”
Other images show the hand of an unidentified individual carefully flipping through the folders. Some images are redacted, leaving their contents unknown.
Another individual wearing blue gloves can be seen carefully using his fingers to move the files slightly. Other images, presumably from Biden’s Wilmington home, show groups of plastic containers that appear to have been left undisturbed.
The Oversight Project noted that the orderly handling of the documents contrasted with photos from the FBI’s Aug. 8, 2022, search of Trump’s Mar-a-Lago residence, which showed documents and folders spread across the floor.
The group argued the contrast showed the two presidents were treated differently and alleged the Mar-a-Lago photos were arranged to make Trump appear guilty.
“Two completely different postures — one designed to protect a reputation, the other to destroy one,” the Oversight Project said.
Just your reminder that this photo produced by Jack Smith, the DOJ and the FBI during the Mar-a-Lago raid was fabricated. pic.twitter.com/vvRUMrqjNP
— Steve 🇺🇸 (@SteveLovesAmmo) June 25, 2024
At the time of the Mar-a-Lago search, video of a group of FBI vehicles entering the estate gained viral attention on social media.
As reported by The Federalist, more than 30 plainclothes agents from the FBI’s Washington Field Office and the Southern District of Florida “swarmed” Mar-a-Lago and spent nine hours searching the estate.
Trump himself decried what he described as the FBI making a “mess” of his closet. First Lady Melania Trump said she felt the FBI had contaminated her belongings after agents searched through her items, including potentially her underwear. The FBI also searched Barron Trump’s room.
The DOJ, through Special Counsel Jack Smith, ultimately obtained a grand jury indictment against Trump on 40 felony counts in connection with the classified-documents investigation.
The case was later dismissed after U.S. District Judge Aileen Cannon ruled that Smith’s appointment as special counsel was unlawful.
First Lady Melania Trump on the raid of Mar-a-Lago: “I saw unpleasant stuff that nobody wants to see. You get angry because nobody should be putting up with that kind of stuff.” pic.twitter.com/N45VZsYOAc
— Trump War Room (@TrumpWarRoom) September 26, 2024
