Attorney General Merrick Garland announced Thursday the appointment of a special prosecutor who will study all classified documents that have been found in Homes and offices of President Joe Biden.
The special prosecutor will be Robert Howwho will not be subject to the daily supervision of any Justice Department official, but who must comply with its “regulations, procedures and policies,” Garland said at a press conference.
Through a statement, Hur himself assured that he will lead the investigation “with a fair, impartial and dispassionate judgement”. “I intend to follow the facts quickly and thoroughly, without fear or favoritism, and I will honor the trust placed in me to perform this service,” she added.
Garland made the announcement after the White House and Biden himself confirmed the discovery of new classified documents from the time he was vice president (2009-2017) in one of his mansions in Delaware (EE.UU.).
The head of Justice explained that on November 4, four days before the mid-term elections, the Office of the Inspector General of the National Archives contacted the Department of Justice and informed it that the White House had found classified documents in the Biden’s private office in the think tank Penn Biden Centera place that “was not authorized for the storage of classified documents”.
On November 9, the FBI started an evaluation “consistent with standard protocols” to understand whether classified information had been mishandled in violation of federal law and within days Garland assigned a federal prosecutor, John Lausch, to conduct an initial investigation.
On December 20, President Biden’s personal attorney notified Lausch that they identified additional documents in the garage of the private residence of the president in Wilmington, Delaware. The FBI went to the scene and secured those documents.
An additional piece of paper in the same residence was found in the last few hours, President Biden’s personal lawyer informed the prosecution this morning.
In early January, it was Lausch himself who recommended further investigation by special counsel.
“Based on the initial investigation I came to the conclusion that it was from public interest appoint a special prosecutorGarland noted.
Hur, Garland said, has worked since 2018 as an assistant federal prosecutor for the district of Maryland -after being nominated by Donald Trump-, where he oversaw some matters of national security, public corruption and other high-profile issues.
“I will ensure that Mr. Hur receives all the resources he needs to do his job. I firmly believe that the normal processes of this department can handle all investigations with integrity,” he added.
This appointment, Garland added, “underscores the department’s commitment to both independence and accountability in especially sensitive matters, to make decisions unquestionably guided only by facts and law“.
Biden assured this Thursday that he is convinced that the conflict generated by the classified papers will be resolved.
“Everything will be cleared up, I’m sure”the president pointed out, minutes after the White House confirmed that his legal team had found new classified documents.
The lawyers of the Presidency made a search, in collaboration with the Department of Justice, in Biden’s private residences in Wilmington and Rehoboth beach, in Delaware, the White House admitted this Thursday.
The lawyers discovered political and personal papers along with a series of classified documents. All but one of the papers were found in a storage space in the garage of Biden’s Wilmington residence, while one, a single page, was found in an adjacent room. Nothing was discovered at the beach house.
The reason for these searches, the content of the documents and who decided to send them to those places is unknown.