Classified documents have been found several times in the Delaware home of President Joe Biden and investigators keep finding more.
The US Attorney General, Merrick Garland, announced the naming of Robert Hur as Special Counsel to lead investigations and review the handling of the classified documents found at an office space formerly used by the President while he was Vice President, as well as at his home in Delaware.
Robert Hur is a former US attorney and former Principal Associate Deputy Attorney General who served in the Trump administration. He agreed to return to government employment for the special project.
Attorney General Garland announced the appointment on Thursday, January 11, a few days after the White House announced that several classified files were found in the President’s former office space.
Because a special counsel was appointed when classified documents were found at Trump’s Mar-a-Lago home, Attorney General Garland said that the appointment of a special counsel in Biden’s case showed the public that the Department of Justice was committed to accountability and fairness, and that the facts and the law solely guided the decision, not favoritism.
Biden’s lawyers found the first batch of documents in his former office on November 2 while packing boxes to vacate the Biden Center for Diplomacy and Global Engagement. President Biden had been using the office starting in 2017 after leaving the Vice President’s office, until his presidential campaign in 2020.
A second batch of classified documents was found in the garage of Biden’s home in Wilmington, Delaware.
President Biden’s lawyer, Richard Sauber, believes that a thorough review will show that the documents were unintentionally misplaced and that the President and his lawyers acted quickly after discovering the mistake.
The White House spoke out on January 9 after the first batch of documents were found in the former office. President Biden said at a news conference that he was surprised to hear of the discovery and had no idea what they contained.
On January 12, the White House announced a second batch had been found at Biden’s home.
A third batch of documents was subsequently found at Biden’s home, and Biden’s lawyers said that Friday’s search showed Biden’s cooperation with the special counsel’s investigation, in contrast to ex-President Trump’s behavior during his classified documents scandal.