What we know about the Biden documents: A timeline

Here is a timeline of what has been disclosed about the classified documents that ended up in a temporary office used by President Joe Biden and at his home in Wilmington, Delaware:

2017

Biden begins working periodically at the Penn Biden Center, a nonprofit think tank in Washington run by the University of Pennsylvania.

Nov. 2, 2022

Biden attorneys discover fewer than a dozen classified records inside the office at the think tank. They inform the US National Archives of their discovery, turn over the materials, and begin cooperating with the Archives and the Justice Department.

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Nov. 9, 2022

The FBI begins an investigation to determine whether classified information was mishandled and whether any federal laws were broken.

Nov. 14, 2022

US Attorney General Merrick Garland assigns John Lausch, US attorney for the Northern District of Illinois, to the investigation and asks him to determine whether a special counsel is warranted.

Dec. 20, 2022

Biden’s personal counsel informs the Department of Justice that additional documents with classification markings were found in the president’s private library, attached to his garage at his home in Wilmington.

Jan. 5, 2023

Lausch briefs Garland on the investigation and recommends the appointment of a special counsel.

Jan. 9, 2023

The White House discloses publicly that it discovered classified documents at Biden’s temporary office at the University of Pennsylvania and says it is cooperating with investigators.

Jan. 12, 2023

Biden’s personal counsel informs the Justice Department that a document with classification markings was discovered in the president’s home in Wilmington.

Garland appoints Robert Hur, the former Trump-era US attorney for the district of Maryland, as special counsel.

Read more: Second batch of classified documents found at separate location used by Biden: Report