US President Joe Biden has been swamped by controversy over the discovery of classified documents at an office space he once used and at this family home in Delaware
US President Joe Biden has been swamped by controversy over the discovery of classified documents at an office space he once used and at this family home in Delaware AFP

Officials from the US Department of Justice found six more classified documents during a search of Joe Biden's family home in Delaware this week, the president's personal lawyer said in a statement Saturday.

The new disclosure served up another embarrassing twist for Biden in an affair dogging him just as he gets ready to declare whether he will run for another term in 2024.

Biden insists he has done nothing wrong and has downplayed the affair as a case of an innocent mistake.

Documents from Biden's time as vice president and with classified markings first turned up an office space at a Biden-affiliated think tank in Washington, and then again at his home in Delaware. Altogether they are about a dozen documents.

After the second find, the White House offered to let the Department of Justice search the Delaware home -- the search was carried out on Friday and is now concluded, Biden attorney Bob Bauer said.

"DOJ took possession of materials it deemed within the scope of its inquiry, including six items consisting of documents with classification markings and surrounding materials," Bauer said.

The search lasted almost 12 hours and covered "all working, living and storage spaces in the home," Bauer said.

"DOJ had full access to the President's home, including personally handwritten notes, files, papers, binders, memorabilia, to-do lists, schedules, and reminders going back decades," he said.

Some of the new papers seized were from Biden's time in the Senate and some of which were from his tenure as vice president, Bauer said.

On Thursday Biden dismissed the furor over the discovery of the old classified documents.

Asked by reporters during a trip to California about the issue, he said: "I think you're going to find there's nothing there."

"I have no regrets. I'm following what the lawyers have told me they want me to do. It's exactly what we're doing. There's no there there."

Although the case is far less serious than Republican Donald Trump's hauling off of hundreds of documents from the White House to his Florida residence after leaving office, Biden is under severe pressure from the media, Republicans in Congress and a Justice Department probe run by a special counsel.