By Sarah N Lynch and Jeff Mason
WASHINGTON, Jan. 12 (Portal) – U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland on Thursday appointed a special counsel to investigate the improper storage of classified documents in President Joe Biden’s home and former office, a trial attached to investigations into former President Donald Trump’s administration remind.
The investigation distracts the Democratic president, who has criticized his Republican predecessor’s handling of classified material, and could cast a shadow over Biden as the two prepare for a possible 2024 campaign.
Garland said Robert Hur, who served as Maryland’s chief federal attorney under Trump, will serve as a quasi-independent investigator to determine whether secret records from Biden’s time as vice president were improperly kept at his Delaware home and at a think tank in Washington.
Garland said Hur will investigate “whether any person or entity has broken the law.”
The White House said footage was found in a garage at Biden’s home and in an adjacent room. He promised to cooperate in the investigation.
“We are confident that a thorough review will show that these documents were inadvertently misplaced and the President and his attorneys acted quickly upon discovering this error,” White House Counsel Richard Sauber said in a statement.
When asked by a journalist Thursday whether it was advisable to keep important material with his Corvette, the president -who describes himself as a “car enthusiast” – said both were in a locked garage.
“It’s not like they’re on the street,” he said. “People know that I take classified documents and material seriously.”
Biden and Trump now face separate investigations by special prosecutors, who are often assigned to politically sensitive cases, to maintain a degree of independence from Justice Department leadership.
But their cases are not the same, legal experts say.
The White House said Biden’s lawyers found a small number of classified documents and turned them over after presenting evidence. Trump was reluctant to do so until an August FBI search uncovered about 100 classified documents, raising questions about whether Trump or his associates were obstructing the investigation.
“The facts couldn’t be more different. The only similarity is that classified White House documents were moved elsewhere,” said Kel McClanahan, head of the National Security Counselors law firm.
The special counsel investigating Trump’s handling of documents is also leading investigations into the Republican’s attempts to reverse his November 2020 election loss to Biden.
LESS RISKS
As incumbent President, Biden faces fewer legal risks than Trump. He has a wide latitude in releasing documents and will likely be protected from prosecution because the Justice Department rarely files criminal charges against the Oval Office resident.
In contrast, Trump lost that protection when his term ended in January 2021.
Garland said he decided a special counsel was needed in the Biden case after an initial investigation by John Lausch, who is serving as the chief federal attorney in the Chicago area and was appointed by Trump.
“This appointment underscores to the public the department’s commitment to both independence and accountability on particularly sensitive matters and to making decisions based unequivocally on facts and law alone,” Garland said at a news conference.
Hur said in a statement he would conduct the investigation impartially.