Attorney Gen. Merrick Garland named U.S. attorney Robert Hur as special counsel in the Justice Department’s investigation into the classified documents found at President Joe Biden‘s private home and office.
“The extraordinary circumstances here require the appointment of a special counsel for this matter,” Garland told reporters. “This appointment underscores for the public the department’s commitment to both independence and accountability in particularly sensitive matters, and to making decisions indisputably guided only by the facts and the law.”
Garland gave Hur permission to find out if one individual or entity is responsible for illegally obtaining the documents.
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Hur graduated from Stanford Law School and went on to clerk for Chief Justice William Rehnquist. He spent time as a federal prosecutor in Maryland, at a private practice, and served in the Justice Department as the top adviser to Deputy Attorney Gen. Rod Rosenstein until he was named by former President Donald Trump to become a U.S. attorney in Maryland.
Classified documents were first found in a closet of a Biden think tank in early November, but weren’t reported until Monday. Only then was it confirmed by the White House. Biden utilized the office between the time he was vice president during the Obama administration and when he returned to the White House as president in 2021. The White House said it is cooperating with the investigation.
A second batch of documents was located at Biden’s home in Wilmington, Delaware, on December 20.
The contents of the documents are still unknown.
The Justice Department is currently conducting an investigation on Trump after classified documents were found at his Mar-a-Lago residence following his time in the White House, violating the Presidential Records Act which orders all presidential and vice presidential documents to be turned over to the National Archives at the end of each administration.
