WASHINGTON
United States Attorney General Merrick Garland announced this Thursday, January 12, the appointment of Robert Hur as special counsel to investigate the matter of classified documents found at locations associated with President Joe Biden.
Garland said he notified the nominated members of each House of Congress of the appointment and signed an executive order authorizing Hur to investigate whether any person or entity violated the law.
The White House previously said classified documents were found at Biden’s home in Wilmington, Delaware, most in a garage storage room.
Biden’s special counsel Richard Sauber said the president’s attorneys searched his homes in Wilmington and Rehoboth Beach, Delaware, after classified documents were found at the Penn Biden Center for Diplomacy and Global Engagement in Washington DC in November.
Biden’s attorneys found the first batch of about 10 documents in a locked cabinet as they prepared to clear the downtown space and turned them over to the National Archives and Records Administration.
The files contained US intelligence memos and briefing materials dating from 2013 to 2016 relating to Ukraine, Iran and the United Kingdom, a source told CNN.
Biden said he was surprised to learn classified documents from his days as Barack Obama’s vice president had been found in his think tank’s office, adding his team turned them over to the national archives “immediately.”
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Robert Hur
Garland noted that Hur had a long and distinguished career as a prosecutor.
In 2003, he joined the Department of Justice’s Criminal Investigation Department, working in the areas of counterterrorism, corporate fraud and appeals.
“From 2007 to 2014, Mr. Hur served as the Assistant United States Attorney for the District of Maryland, prosecuting matters ranging from violent crimes to financial fraud,” Garland said.
In 2017, he returned to the District of Maryland as Senior Assistant Attorney General and became a US Attorney in 2018.
“As federal attorney general, he oversaw some of the most important matters in the Department of National Security, public corruption and other high-profile matters. I will make sure Mr. Hur has all the resources he needs to do his job,” added the US Attorney General.
*Aicha Sandoval Alaguna contributed to the writing of this note.
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