The Biden administration’s Justice Department deliberately kept the FBI out of the picture in the search for classified documents tucked away at President Joe Biden’s residences, according to a new report.

The report in the Wall Street Journal cited sources it did not name, who said Biden’s personal lawyers and Justice Department officials jointly came to the conclusion that the FBI should not be present when searches were conducted.

Although classified documents were found at the Penn Biden Center on Nov. 2, the public was not informed of this until January. Since the initial documents were found, more documents have been found at Biden’s home in Wilmington, Delaware -- both in the house and in the garage.

The Journal report said that Biden’s attorneys and Biden’s Justice Department agreed that the attorneys would conduct the searches, tell the DOJ what they found, and then have law enforcement authorities secure any documents that were discovered.

The Journal report said that the collaborative approach helped the Biden team “avoid more aggressive actions by law enforcement.”

The report noted that the Justice Department’s approach with Biden’s classified documents issues contrasts with its approach to classified documents in the possession of former President Donald Trump. FBI agents raided Trump’s Mar-a-Lago estate in August and seized boxes of documents, including some private papers.

John Fishwick, who was a U.S. attorney for the Western District of Virginia during the Obama administration, said the piecemeal revelations of classified documents found at Biden’s home and a garage do not mesh with the administration's efforts to paint Biden’s scenario as different from that of Trump.

“He is the sitting president; there’s no reason for him to hold back anything about this. It makes it harder to say it’s apples and oranges, and it undercuts the argument that you were different,” he said.

Some Republicans are irked with the difference between the two investigations and the lack of answers.

"Why did they find these documents now? It's been six years since he was vice president. What prompted them to search for the documents?" Republican Rep. Mariannette Miller-Meeks of Iowa asked on Tuesday, according to Newsmax.

"Was there cleaning of the Biden Penn Center? Did they all of a sudden think they needed to take the Corvette in a parade so they're looking in the garage? I mean, seriously, what prompted them?"

She said the discovery of the documents was handled improperly.

"As soon as they found the first documents, which was before the election, that should have been closed and then there should have been an FBI warrant listed, where every single property that the Biden administration either lives or visits frequently should have been investigated and searched and not by attorneys who have attorney-client privilege," she said.

"That's who's doing the looking for these documents -- the attorneys who have attorney-client privilege. So, is this to stall any investigation that the Republicans may do?" she said.

Her bottom line: "This all reeks of corruption."

Republican Rep. Dan Meuser of Pennsylvania said Biden’s case has the appearance of “unequal justice,” according to Newsmax.

"Who had access to these documents and what was in [them]? With Trump we had pictures. We had speculation. We had all this information where most of it was false, but at least it was leaking. Where is some of the information on these [Biden] documents? This is what is very disturbing to the American people,” he said.

This article appeared originally on The Western Journal.