President Biden and Vice President Harris will attend high-level fundraisers in New York City and Philadelphia next week, kicking off a spree of fundraising efforts ahead of their expected 2024 announcement.
Biden and the Democratic National Committee (DNC) will host the NYC fundraiser, and Harris will join Biden for the Philadelphia event, a source familiar with the plans told Fox News Digital. The source says Biden and Harris will hold larger and more frequent fundraisers in March and April.
Biden has yet to formally announce his candidacy for the 2024 presidential race, but he and top White House officials have repeatedly stated he intends to run. He is unlikely to announce his campaign until after the State of the Union address on Feb. 7, according to sources familiar with his thinking.
White House staff have said the discovery of classified materials inside Biden’s home has not and will not affect the president’s timing on the announcement.
BIDEN CLASSIFIED DOCUMENT INVESTIGATION: SECRET SERVICE READY TO PROVIDE DELAWARE VISITORS, SOURCE SAYS
President Biden and first lady Jill Biden.
(AP Photo/Carolyn Kaster)
US Vice President Kamala Harris speaks during the Democratic National Committee Women’s Leadership Forum.
(Leigh Vogel/Abaca/Bloomberg via Getty Images)
“The president is honoring his promise to respect the independence of the Department of Justice and divorce it from politics. You’ve heard from him directly, including after his agenda resulted in the best midterms for a Democratic president in 60 years, that he intends to run,” said White House deputy press secretary Andrew Bates.
Biden is facing more scrutiny than ever after White House lawyers and Justice Department investigators uncovered four stashes of classified documents in his home and think tank. Biden’s lawyers found the first batch at the Washington offices of the Penn Biden Center and two more inside the garage of Biden’s home in Wilmington, Delaware. FBI officials later found a third stash while conducting an independent search of his Wilmington home.
FLASHBACK: PENCE WENT AFTER TRUMP OVER CLASSIFIED DOCUMENTS BEFORE FINDING STASH IN HIS OWN HOUSE
Attorney General Merrick Garland appointed a special counsel to investigate the matter earlier in January, tapping former U.S. Attorney Robert Hur.
Former President Donald Trump is also facing a special counsel investigation into his own alleged mishandling of classified documents at Mar-a-Lago. Former Vice President Mike Pence also discovered misplaced classified documents at his home in Carmel, Delaware, though the DOJ has yet to announce an investigation into him.
This image contained in a court filing by the Department of Justice on Aug. 30, 2022, and redacted by in part by the FBI, shows a photo of documents seized during the Aug. 8 search by the FBI of former President Donald Trump’s Mar-a-Lago estate in Florida.
(Department of Justice via AP)
General view of the gate to the access road leading to the home of President Joe Biden in Wilmington, DE on Thursday, January 12. 2023.
(Dario Alequin for Fox News Digital)
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Biden and Pence both say they immediately contacted federal authorities to return the documents. Pence also notified Congress of his find on Tuesday.