President Joe Biden: The ‘frustrated architect’
Part 1
PRESIDENT Joe Biden was returning from church a week ago when he stepped out of his armored SUV onto the driveway of his Wilmington, Delaware, home on an important mission: He wanted to inspect the landscaping. The sprawling home on a manmade pond, three miles from downtown, has a special place in his heart.
When he met Special Prosecutor Robert Hur to talk about the sensitive documents he’d improperly kept after his vice presidency, Biden offered a confession. Three times over the five hours, Biden told Hur he is a “frustrated architect.”
His wife, Jill, once offered to send him to architecture school if he’d only stop running for the Senate. It was not to be. But he still seems to have architectural design in his blood. And he’s mused privately about redesigning elements of the home after his presidency.
The house is central in the controversy over Biden’s handling of classified documents. FBI agents and the president’s lawyers identified at least 28 items there that contained classified information from his time as vice president. Hur, this past week, defended his assessment that there was not sufficient evidence to charge Biden with willfully retaining the classified information.
In a transcript of Hur’s interview, conducted in the fall and released on the day a House committee heard the special counsel’s testimony, Biden lays out in meticulous detail the specifications of his home. This prompted Hur to comment on his“photographic” recall, even as he had questioned the president’s memory on other fronts.
When Biden hopped out to inspect the landscaping, the area had just been replanted after a yearlong project by the Secret Service to improve security at the president’s compound. The work included new fencing and vehicle barriers, bulletproof windows, and extensive modifications to the home demanded by the agency for more security.
Satellite imagery from last year showed construction crews had dismantled the second-floor balcony and the sunroom overlooking the pond as part of the renovations to the south side of the 7,000-square-foot home and the grounds. Ceiling fans from the sunroom were stored in Biden’s cluttered garage alongside his beloved Corvette in January 2023, when FBI agents spent 13 hours doing a top-to-bottom search of the house looking for classified documents.
Referred to by Biden aides as the “lake house,” the home has been at the center of Biden’s life since he moved there in 1998. It has been the scene of meetings with aides and the occasional lawmaker for decades. It is the site of the makeshift basement studio from which he ran much of his 2020 presidential campaign during the pandemic.
(Part 2 will be published on March 26, 2024.)