FILE PHOTO: U.S. President Joe Biden departs the White House to board the Marine One helicopter for travel to Delaware from the White House in Washington, U.S. January 13, 2023. REUTERS/Jonathan Ernst/File Photo
WASHINGTON 鈥� No visitor logs exist for President Joe Biden鈥檚 home in Wilmington, Delaware, where classified documents from his vice presidential days were found, as it is a private residence, the White House Counsel and Secret Service said on Monday.
鈥淟ike every President across decades of modern history, his personal residence is personal,鈥� the White House Counsel鈥檚 office said in a statement.
The Secret Service, which is tasked with protecting current and past presidents and their families, does not 鈥渋ndependently maintain our own visitor logs because it鈥檚 a private residence,鈥� agency spokesman Anthony Guglielmi said.
The Republican chairman of the House of Representatives Oversight Committee, James Comer, on Sunday demanded visitor logs for Democrat Biden鈥檚 house in Wilmington after classified documents were found in his office and garage there.
Republicans have sought to compare the Biden documents case with that of former President Donald Trump, who faces a federal criminal probe of how he handled classified documents after he left the White House in 2021.
Democrats have unsuccessfully sought visitor logs for Trump鈥檚 Florida home for years.
Legal experts have noted the differences between the two cases. The White House says Biden鈥檚 team has turned over the documents it found. Trump had resisted doing so until an FBI search in August at his Palm Beach, Florida, home.
Biden鈥檚 legal team said it had found classified documents relating to his time as vice president under President Barack Obama at his Delaware home and at a Washington think-thank. His lawyers on Saturday reported finding five additional pages at his home. The material at the think tank was found in November and the disclosure was made public after a CBS 黑料社 report last week.
U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland on Thursday named a special counsel to investigate Biden鈥檚 handling of the sensitive government documents. A separate special counsel is investigating Trump鈥檚 handling of classified documents, as well as his unsuccessful attempts to overturn his 2020 election defeat.
House Speaker Kevin McCarthy said on Monday that Republicans want to know whether Biden has turned over 鈥渁ll the documents. Are there more out there? 鈥� I think there鈥檚 a lot of questions that continue to raise and we want to get all the information possible.鈥�
Biden restored the tradition of keeping White House visitors logs, including publishing them regularly, after the Trump administration ended doing that, the White House counsel noted in Monday鈥檚 statement.
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