A special counsel has been appointed to investigate the presence of classified documents at President Biden’s home in Wilmington, Delaware, and an office in Washington. Robert Hur, the former Trump-appointed U.S. attorney in Maryland, has been appointed as the lead in this investigation. This announcement came after a second classified document was found on January 12 in the President’s garage near a Corvette and in his personal library. The first set of classified documents was found in a locked closet at the Biden Penn Center on November 2, 2022. However. The news of the findings was not released to the public until January 9, 2023.
How is the White House Responding?
What’s in these documents has yet to be revealed at this time. Biden previously stated he was “surprised to learn that there are any government records that were taken there to that office” when speaking about the initial discovery of documents. His lawyers reportedly turned over the documents to the National Archives after discovering them. President Biden says they “did what they should have done.” We do know the documents are from the Obama era. After Thursday’s announcement of an investigation, White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre held a press conference to answer questions from the media. During that time, she was careful to emphasize the President and his lawyers’ full cooperation in the search for documents. Jean-Pierre also maintained that the President takes classified documents seriously and was unaware the documents were in his possession. It was also asked why the President was not being told what was in the retrieved documents if he is the President. Jean-Pierre responded, saying the instruction was given to the President to avoid asking what was in the documents in order to conduct the investigation fairly.
Who is Robert Hur?
Now that an investigation is underway, many are wondering who is the man in charge of the investigation. Attorney General Merrick Garland describes Hur as having a “long and distinguished career as a prosecutor.” Most recently, he was a lawyer at Gibson Dunn, which is a large corporate defense law firm. Hur has also worked in the Justice Department with FBI Director Christopher Wray. He attended Harvard and Stanford Law School and is a member of the bars of Maryland and the District of Columbia.
How is the House Responding?
The chair of the House Oversight Committee, GOP Rep. James Comer, says that even though a special counsel has been announced does not mean the panel will not investigate. The panel still has its own questions, such as what was in the classified documents and why the Biden Administration kept the found documents a secret from the public for months. As for the House Democratic leader, Hakeem Jeffries says he has full faith in the President and believes the President has taken the appropriate steps to determine what happened.
Is it possible President Biden will face charges?
A similar situation to that of former President Trump, who also had classified documents at his Mar-a-Lago home, raises the question of will President Biden be charged as well. Thanks to Justice Department regulations, the President can not be indicted while in office, no matter what Hur finds. He could later be indicted if the investigation is still in process during the 2024 election and Biden loses.
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