Attorney General Merrick Garland said Thursday he has appointed Robert Hur as special counsel to lead the investigation into President Joe Biden after classified documents were found at Biden’s office at the Penn Biden Center and at his home in Delaware.
Garland said the investigation will determine “whether any person or entity violated the law in this matter.”
“I will ensure that Mr. Hur receives all the resources he needs to conduct his work,” Garland said. “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 said that in November of last year, the National Archives Office of Inspector General reached out to the Department of Justice. The IG told the DOJ that they had been informed by the White House that classified documents were found at the Penn Biden Center for Diplomacy and Global Engagement in Washington, D.C.
“That office was not authorized for storage of classified documents,” Garland said. “The [DOJ] prosecutor was also advised that those documents had also been secured at an archives facility. On November 9, the FIB commenced an assessment, consistent with standard protocols, to understand whether classified information had been mishandled in violation of federal law.”
Garland said that on Dec. 20, Biden’s personal counsel told the DOJ that more documents with classified markings were found in Biden’s private garage in Wilmington, Delaware. Those also came from during Biden’s time as vice president.
“The FBI went to the location and secured those documents,” Garland said.
Biden admitted during a news conference Thursday that he did have classified documents in his garage, next to his corvette.
"By the way, my Corvette is in a locked garage, OK?" Biden said. "So, it’s not like they’re sitting out in the street."
Biden said his lawyers "discovered a small number of documents with classified markings in storage areas and in file cabinets in my home and my … in my personal library. This was done in the case of the Biden Penn – this was done in the case of the Biden Penn Center. The Department of Justice was immediately – as was done, the Department of Justice was immediately … notified, and the lawyers arranged for the Department of Justice to take possession of the document."
"So you’re going to see," he added. "We’re going to see all this unfold. I'm confident."
Garland said that Biden’s personal counsel reached out to the DOJ yet again Thursday, having found another document with classified markings.
U.S. House Oversight and Accountability Committee Chairman Rep. James Comer, R-Ky., has also launched an investigation into the classified documents
As The Center Square previously reported, Comer sent a letter to the National Archives and Records Administration and the White House Counsel’s Office demanding answers.
“The Committee is concerned that President Biden has compromised sources and methods with his own mishandling of classified documents,” the letter to Biden’s White House Counsel said. “Under the Biden Administration, the Department of Justice and NARA have made compliance with the Presidential Records Act a top priority.”
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