New York, 10 October 2023 (tca/dpa/MIA) - President Joe Biden was interviewed across two days in the special counsel inquiry into his handling of classified documents, the White House said late Monday.

He voluntarily submitted to the interview, which began Sunday and ended Monday, according to a statement from the president's office.

For months, special counsel Robert Hur has been investigating the president over sensitive records discovered at Biden's home in Delaware and at an office in Washington.

The interview - carried out as Biden was faced with an explosion of violence in Israel and Gaza - could signal that the investigation is nearing its completion.

"As we have said from the beginning, the president and the White House are cooperating with this investigation, and as it has been appropriate, we have provided relevant updates publicly," White House spokesman Ian Sams said in a statement.

Sams added that the interview was conducted at the White House, but provided few other details, referring further questions to the Justice Department.

The DOJ did not immediately reply to a request for comment.

In January, Attorney General Merrick Garland appointed Hur to investigate Biden.

At the time, the AG said the appointment showed the Justice Department's "commitment to both independence and accountability in particularly sensitive matters."

Hur, a New York-born lawyer who worked in the Trump administration, has been registered as a Republican, according to public records. He was the US attorney for Maryland from 2018 to 2021.

The White House has said classified papers from Biden's time as vice president were unearthed in a garage and adjacent room at the president's home in Wilmington, Delaware.

Government documents were also found in Biden's office at the Penn Biden Center in Washington last year, according to the White House.

Biden has maintained that he takes "classified material seriously."

Photo: MIA archive