Thursday 8 February 2024

Garland Informs Congress Biden Docs Probe Is Complete

 Special counsel Robert Hur has wrapped up his investigation into President Joe Biden‘s retention of classified documents while out of office, the Department of Justice informed Congress on Wednesday.

Attorney General Merrick Garland wrote a letter to congressional leaders that said Hur submitted his final report this week, along with appendices and a letter from counsel, after the prosecutor engaged with the White House’s and Biden’s personal lawyers for comments.

“That included review by the White House Counsel’s Office for executive privilege consistent with the President’s constitutional prerogatives,” Garland said. “The White House’s privilege review has not yet concluded.”

Garland said he is “committed to making as much of the Special Counsel’s report public as possible, consistent with legal requirements and Department policy,” and vowed to produce to Congress the report, its appendices, and the letter from counsel following the completion of the White House’s privilege review.

White House spokesman Ian Sams told multiple news outlets the White House expects the privilege review to be completed by the end of the week, meaning Congress and the public could get to see Hur’s findings in the next couple of days.

The letter follows reports saying that Biden’s team was bracing for the report, including the potential for embarrassing details and photos, and noting there would be no criminal charges.

Garland announced Hur, who served as a U.S. attorney in Maryland during the Trump administration, would lead the probe as special counsel in January of 2023 after the discovery of records marked classified at Biden’s office at a D.C. think tank in the days before the 2022 midterms.

 

Further searches by Biden’s lawyers and the FBI also took place at Biden’s home in Wilmington, Delaware, and his beach house in Rehoboth Beach, Delaware, which turned up more materials of interest to investigators. Some of the documents found in locations linked to Biden are said to date back not only to his time as vice president but also to his tenure as a U.S. senator.

Biden’s representatives said they had been cooperative with investigators and the president claimed there is “no there there.”

House Republicans have signaled that Biden’s handling of classified documents is related to their corruption-focused impeachment inquiry into the president and sought a deposition with former White House Counsel Dana Remus.

Former President Donald Trump, who may face Biden in a 2020 rematch in this year’s election, is also the subject of a classified documents probe led by special counsel Jack Smith. Trump has pleaded not guilty in that criminal matter and in three other cases.

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