US Attorney General Merrick Garland on Thursday named a special counsel to investigate the improper storage of classified documents at the home and former office of President Joe Biden, an echo of the broader investigation directed at former President Donald Trump.
The questioning is a distraction for the Democratic president, who has criticized his Republican predecessor’s handling of classified material, and could cast a shadow over Biden as the two men prepare for a possible 2024 election rematch.
Garland said that Robert Hur, who served as the top federal prosecutor in Maryland under Trump, will act as a quasi-independent prosecutor to determine whether Biden’s classified records as vice president are valid for his time in Delaware. housing and were improperly stored in a think tank. Washington.
Garland said Hoor would investigate “whether any individual or entity violated the law.”
The White House said some material was found in a garage and an adjacent room at Biden’s home. It promised to cooperate in the investigation.
“We are confident that a thorough review will reveal that these documents were inadvertently lost, and that the president and his attorneys acted promptly upon learning of the error,” White House counsel Richard Sauber said in a statement.
Asked by a reporter Thursday about his knowledge of storing important material next to his Corvette, the self-proclaimed ‘Car Man’ president said both were in a locked garage.
“It’s not like they’re sitting out on the street,” he said. “People know that I take classified documents and classified material very seriously.”
Biden and Trump now each face questioning from special prosecutors, who are typically appointed to politically sensitive cases to ensure a degree of independence from Justice Department leadership.
But their cases are not identical, legal experts say.
The White House said that Biden’s lawyers found some classified documents and handed them over after discovery. Trump resisted doing so until an August FBI search found nearly 100 classified documents, raising questions about whether Trump or his staff obstructed the investigation.
Kyle McClanahan, head of the law firm National Security Counselors, said, “The facts couldn’t be more different. The only similarity is that the classified documents were moved from the White House.”
The special counsel probing Trump’s handling of the documents is also probing efforts by Republicans to reverse his November 2020 election defeat to Biden.