Robert Hur has been appointed as special counsel to investigate how the classified documents were located at President Biden’s Delaware mansion and at a think tank office in Washington, DC.
Steve Ruark/AP
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Steve Ruark/AP
Robert Hur has been appointed as special counsel to investigate how the classified documents were located at President Biden’s Delaware mansion and at a think tank office in Washington, DC.
Steve Ruark/AP
Attorney General Merrick Garland has appointed a special counsel to investigate how classified documents were located at President Biden’s Delaware Mansion and a think tank office in Washington he used for about three years.
Garland names former Justice Department official Robert Hur launched a high-level investigation after the White House confirmed that Biden’s personal attorneys had found “a small number” of classified documents in a warehouse in Wilmington, Del., Biden’s garage. and in an adjoining room as well as in a locker at the Penn Biden Center in Washington, D.C. Attorneys said in both cases they turned over the Obama-Biden administration records to the National Archives. .
The Justice Department said Hur was tasked with investigating “possible removal and unauthorized storage of classified documents or other records.”
Hur released a statement promising to handle the investigation “with fair, objective and unbiased judgment.” He said, “I intend to follow the facts quickly and thoroughly, without fear or favor, and will honor the trust placed in me to perform this service.”
Biden adviser Richard Sauber said the president would cooperate fully with the special counsel.
“We are confident that a thorough review will show that these documents were inadvertently lost and that the president and his attorneys acted upon the discovery of the error,” Sauber said in a statement. declare.
Second Special Advisor
The move marks the second time the Justice Department has assigned a politically sensitive investigation to a quasi-independent lawyer in as many months. Last November, former war crimes prosecutor Jack Smith control the investigation into the mishandling of government secrets and obstruction related to Many documents that the FBI seized at the Florida resort of former President Donald Trump, Mar-a-Lago. Smith will also lead the investigation into several “major aspects” of the January 6 uprising, including possible parts of Trump’s inner circle.
trumpet request Thursday, the special counsel’s investigation into his case was over.
Biden told reporters at a news conference in Mexico this week that he wasn’t sure what was in the documents found at the Penn Biden Center. “People know I take classified documents and classified information seriously,” Biden said.
Republicans, newly empowered in the US House of Representatives, immediately grasped the issue. Representative James Comer, R-Ky., chairman of the House Oversight Committee, wrote to the White House and Archives stressing that Biden is treated equally under the law. “The Committee is concerned that President Biden has compromised sources and methods with his mishandling of classified documents,” Comer wrote.
Justice Department regulations require the appointment of special counsel when an investigation reveals “conflicts of interest … or other unusual circumstances.” In the Mar-a-Lago case, Garland told reporters that Trump’s 2024 presidential run and Biden’s tentative reelection decision helped convince him to call an outsider. .
Justice Department officials said the appointment of a special counsel on the Biden matter is also required by federal regulation. Garland said the appointment “underlines” the DOJ’s commitment to accountability in “particularly sensitive matters.”
Special counsels are not subject to day-to-day scrutiny but they are required to explain their actions to the attorney general, who has the power to dismiss the attorney but must notify Congress when it happens.
U.S. Attorney for Chicago John Lausch, who was appointed under the Trump administration and remained in the job during Biden’s tenure, conducted an initial review of the Biden document. He plans to leave his government job to move into the private sector this year, and therefore cannot continue working on Biden documents.
Who is Robert Hur?
Most recently, Hur practiced privately in Washington. He served as the United States Attorney in Maryland from 2018 to 2021.
His positions at the Department of Justice also include assistant United States Attorney in Maryland from 2007 to 2014 and principal deputy attorney general from 2017 to 2018.
Earlier in his career, Hur was secretary to Chief Justice William Rehnquist and later an advisor to then-Assistant Attorney General Christopher Wray.
