Special counsel has been appointed by US Attorney General Garland to investigate Joe Biden’s classified documents.
On Thursday, January 12, Attorney General Merrick Garland appointed a special counsel to investigate classified papers discovered at President Biden’s home in Delaware and an office in Washington.
Garland stated that Robert Hur, a New York-born lawyer who previously served as the United States Attorney for the District of Maryland and worked in the Trump administration, would be given “all the resources he requires” to investigate the documents.
“I am confident that the department’s normal processes can handle all investigations with integrity,” Garland said during a brief news conference.
“However, the regulations require the appointment of a special counsel for this matter due to the extraordinary circumstances here.”
The appointment, according to Garland, demonstrates the Justice Department’s “commitment to both independence and accountability in particularly sensitive matters.”
The announcement came just hours after the White House acknowledged on Wednesday and Thursday that classified papers from Biden’s time as vice president had been discovered in his garage and an adjacent room at his home in Wilmington, Delaware.
According to the White House, that discovery came after government documents were discovered in Biden’s office at the Penn Biden Center for Diplomacy and Global Engagement in Washington in November.
The papers were discovered by Biden’s lawyers, and the Justice Department was notified “immediately” in both cases, according to a statement from Biden’s special counsel, Richard Sauber.
Garland has now directed that special counsels investigate both Biden and his predecessor, Donald Trump, with both investigations centered on classified materials.
Garland appointed veteran prosecutor Jack Smith in November to lead investigations into Trump’s handling of classified documents and his role in inspiring the deadly Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol.
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