Jan. 12 (UPI) — Attorney General Merrick Garland Thursday announced the appointment of Robert Hur as special counsel to investigate the discovery of classified documents found in a private office and a garage of President Joe Biden.
Garland laid out a timeline explaining how the documents were discovered. He said on Nov. 4, 2022, the National Archives told the Justice Department the White House had notified them that the documents were discovered at the office of the Penn Biden Center for Diplomacy and Global Engagement in Washington D.C.
“That office was not authorized for the storage of classified documents,” Garland said. “The prosecutor was also advised that those documents had been secured in an archives facility.”
On Nov. 9, Garland said, the FBI started an assessment consistent with standard protocols to determine whether the classified information had been improperly handled in possible violation of federal law.
Garland said he assigned U.S. Attorney John Lausch Jr. to do an initial investigation on Nov. 14. On Dec. 20, Biden’s lawyer informed Lausch that additional classified documents were found in the garage of Biden’s Delaware home.
Lausch briefed Garland on the initial results of his investigation Jan. 5 and told him a special counsel was warranted.
“Based on Mr. Lausch’s initial investigation, I concluded that, under the special counsel regulations, it was in the public interest to appoint a special counsel,” Garland said.
The White House on Thursday confirmed the discovery of the second set of classified documents from Biden’s time as vice president.
The documents were recovered from the garage of Biden’s home in Wilmington, Del., after the president’s lawyers conducted searches of his two separate residences in the state.
Garland said Thursday that the documents in question have been secured by the FBI and National Archives.
“During the review, the lawyers discovered among personal and political papers a small number of additional Obama-Biden administration records with classified markings,” special counsel to the president Richard Sauber said Thursday.
“All but one of these documents were found in storage space in the president’s Wilmington residence garage. One document consisting of one page was discovered among stored materials in an adjacent room.”
In a response to a question from reporters, Biden acknowledged Thursday that lawyers discovered “a small number of documents in classified markings in file cabinets in my home and my personal library,” adding that the Department of Justice was “immediately notified.”
Biden said to his knowledge, the second set of documents was found in a locked garage where he stores his Corvette.
“People know I take classified documents and classified material seriously,” Biden said, following a speech on the economy Thursday, adding that he continues to cooperate fully with a Justice Department review.
“As part of that process, my lawyers reviewed other places where documents from my time as vice president were stored and they finished that review last night.”
On Tuesday, the House oversight committee, chaired by Rep. James Comer, a Republican from Kentucky, called on the National Archives and Records Administration as well as the White House Counsel’s Office for more information on Biden’s failure to return the documents.
The discoveries come amid a Justice Department investigation into former President Donald Trump‘s alleged months-long refusal to hand over more than 100 documents with classified markings found during an FBI search of Trump’s Mar-a-Lago Florida resort in the summer after he failed to comply with a subpoena to hand them over to the government.
