Garland appoints special counsel in Biden documents investigation

Attorney General Merrick Garland has appointed a special counsel to take over the investigation into President Joe Biden's potential mishandling of classified documents. 

The special counsel is Robert Hur.

Implications for Biden: The appointment is a major moment for Biden, who has mostly been able to steer clear of legal problems during his time in the White House. The special counsel investigation, along with the aggressive new Republican-led House of Representatives, means Biden may be on the defensive for the next two years. 

The appointment comes hours after the White House counsel’s office said in a statement that Biden’s aides located Obama-era documents with classified markings at two locations inside his home in Wilmington, Delaware.

The documents were located in a storage area in Biden’s garage and an adjacent room, the statement reads. Biden frequently spends weekends at the home, located in a wealthy, wooded enclave on a lake.

Speaking Thursday, Biden said the documents were in a “locked garage” and that he was cooperating fully with the Department of Justice.

CNN previously reported that 10 classified documents, including US intelligence materials and briefing memos about Ukraine, Iran and the United Kingdom, were also discovered when Biden’s personal attorneys were packing files at his former private office in November.

Some of the classified documents were “top secret,” the highest level. They were found in three or four boxes that also contained unclassified papers that fall under the Presidential Records Act, CNN has reported.

US Attorney General Merrick Garland is making a statement at the Justice Department. The department did not say what the subject of the statement will be. 

The comments come as the White House confirmed that President Joe Biden’s aides located Obama-era documents with classified markings at two locations inside his home in Wilmington, Delaware.

CNN reported Wednesday that Biden’s legal team had found another batch of classified documents in a search that began after classified documents were found at his former think tank office in Washington in early November.

Garland has asked the US attorney in Chicago to review the matter, a source familiar with the matter previously told CNN, a process that is still in a preliminary stage. That US attorney, John Lausch Jr., has already completed the initial part of his inquiry, a source familiar with his work told CNN. He has provided his preliminary findings to Garland, the source said.

Several people associated with Biden have been interviewed as part of the Justice Department investigation into the discovery of classified documents from his time as vice president, according to two people briefed on the matter.

Several people associated with President Joe Biden have been interviewed as part of the Justice Department's investigation into the discovery of classified documents from his time as vice president, according to two people briefed on the matter. 

The group includes former aides from Biden’s time as vice president who may have been involved in packing and closing out his records and personal items and extends to some individuals who may have had knowledge how the documents discovered on Nov. 2 ended up inside Biden’s office at the Penn Biden Center for Diplomacy and Engagement, the people said.

Biden and his White House counsel’s office have pledged full cooperation for review being conducted by US Attorney John Lausch, and that has extended to the interviews that have been conducted, the people said. 

The names of those interviewed remain unclear. It is possible more interviews may be conducted going forward, one of the people said, though it remains a fluid process.

Rep. James Comer of Kentucky, the new House Oversight Committee chair, vowed Thursday to hold hearings on President Joe Biden’s handling of classified documents.

When asked about timing, he said as soon as “we can get everything in place. We requested a lot of information. As soon as that comes in.”

Comer also told reporters that he “is not a fan” of special counsels, in part because he doesn’t have confidence in whoever Attorney General Merrick Garland might appoint, and thinks his committee can be “more effective.”

But, he added: “The fact that they called for special counsel for Trump's handling of classified documents, I don't see how they can not appoint a special counsel” for Biden.

Comer said he has not yet heard back from the National Archives after sending them a letter requesting more information, which he called “concerning.”

The top Republican on the House Armed Services Committee is also asking whether Defense Department officials have been contacted to cooperate with the US Attorney’s review of the classified documents found at Biden’s former private office and home in Wilmington, Delaware. 

Rep. Mike Rogers, who is the incoming chair of the committee, also asked if Ronald Moultrie, under secretary of Defense for Intelligence and Security, and William Lietzau, director of the Defense Counterintelligence and Security Agency, are conducting their own investigation.

CNN's Zachary Cohen contributed reporting this post.

President Joe Biden once again said he takes classified documents “seriously” following the discovery of a second set of classified documents at his Wilmington, Delaware, home. 

“We’re going to see all of this unfold, I’m confident,” Biden said of the discovery. 

Biden did say the garage where the documents were found was locked, after reporters asked “what he was thinking” keeping classified documents next to his Corvette. 

“My Corvette’s in a locked garage — so it’s not like it’s sitting out in the street,” Biden said. When asked again whether the material was in a locked garage, Biden replied yes “as well as my garage.” 

The president said he was going “to get a chance to speak on all of this God willing soon.”

What some lawmakers are saying: Rep. Nancy Pelosi on Thursday addressed the second batch of Biden's classified documents found, telling reporters, “Well, I think that there's a big difference" adding "the Biden's people are bringing forth the documents. They're not obstructing access to them or knowledge about them. And I think that's the issue at hand."

Pelosi said she did not know why it took two months for the existence of the classified documents to come out and say she found out about them when the public did.

CNN's Annie Grayer contributed reporting to this post.

Attorney General Merrick Garland has asked the US attorney in Chicago to review the matter, a source familiar with the matter previously told CNN, a process that is still in a preliminary stage.

That US attorney, John Lausch Jr., has already completed the initial part of his inquiry, a source familiar with his work told CNN. He has provided his preliminary findings to Garland, the source said.

That means Garland now faces a critical decision on how to proceed, including whether to open a full-blown criminal investigation. Garland was also personally involved in some of the key decision-making related to the Trump documents investigation and the decision to send the FBI to search Mar-a-Lago.

Trump’s legal team has argued privately that the revelation of the documents in Biden’s possession puts Garland in a tough position of deciding whether to appoint a special counsel.

While Republicans and Trump’s allies have drawn comparisons between the two, Trump had several hundred documents at his Mar-a-Lago residence and resisted the government’s efforts to retrieve them while Biden’s attorneys turned the documents over the day after finding them. Yet Trump’s legal team has discussed the matter internally and ultimately believes it will help their legal case, including their argument about how easy it is for former presidents to take documents labeled classified when they leave office.

“This is huge for us,” one source close to the legal team told CNN.

South Carolina Republican Sen. Lindsey Graham, who sits on the Senate Judiciary Committee, is calling on Garland to appoint a special counsel to investigate the matter.

“I think if you believe a special counsel is necessary to assure the public about the handling of classified documents by Donald Trump, you should apply a special counsel to the mishandling of classified documents by President Biden when he was Vice President,” Graham said on Fox News earlier Wednesday.

The White House is also facing bipartisan scrutiny from the Senate Intelligence Committee, the leaders of which sent a letter to Director of National Intelligence Avril Haines asking for access to the documents found at Biden’s private office, a spokesperson for Sen. Marco Rubio told CNN.

President Joe Biden’s embarrassment over classified documents found in his former offices is spiraling into a major political crisis that threatens to undermine the case for Donald Trump to be charged for his own hoarding of secret material.

Thursday morning’s confirmation from the White House that more secret documents dating from Biden’s time as vice president were found in two locations at his Wilmington, Delaware, home immediately fueled Republican claims that Trump is being treated unfairly as he is investigated by a special counsel over classified information found at Mar-a-Lago.

A White House statement said documents were located in a storage area in Biden’s garage and an adjacent room. Biden frequently spends weekends at the home, located in a wealthy, wooded enclave on a lake. Speaking Thursday, the president said that the documents were in a “locked garage” and that he was cooperating fully with the Department of Justice.

While Trump’s retention of hundreds of documents and attempts to thwart their transfer to the National Archives as required by law appears more serious at this stage, Biden’s deepening troubles are offering a huge opening to the new pro-Trump House majority. The GOP is already moving to unleash an investigative machine designed to prove their long-held belief that Democrats have weaponized the federal government and intelligence agencies against conservatives – and to create the appearance of equivalence between Trump’s behavior as president and the actions of Biden and his circle.

Biden’s own sharp criticisms of Trump’s handling of secret intelligence are now coming back to haunt him and opening him up to charges of hypocrisy. While each case will be assessed according to its own legal merits, the possibility that Trump would face criminal action for conduct that will – for many voters – appear to broadly mirror Biden might make any prosecution politically unsustainable.

It would also play into Trump’s claims he is being targeted in order to derail his 2024 White House bid that started with a lackluster launch but could now be energized by the showdown over secret documents.

Read the full analysis here.

Attorney General Merrick Garland will make a statement at 1:15 p.m. ET today, the Justice Department announced. 

The department did not say what the subject of the statement will be. 

President Joe Biden’s aides located documents with classified markings at two locations inside his home in Wilmington, Delaware, the White House counsel’s office said in a statement Thursday.

The documents were located in a storage area in the garage and then an adjacent room, the statement reads.

Biden took a question on the statement following remarks on the economy Thursday morning. When asked by a reporter what he was thinking by keeping classified documents in his garage “next to his Corvette,” Biden said:

The documents were located following a search of the president’s homes in Wilmington and Rehoboth Beach, Delaware. No classified documents were located in Rehoboth, the statement says.

The documents were found “among personal and political papers,” the statement reads.

Lawyers for Biden concluded their review of the Delaware homes on Wednesday evening.

“As was done in the case of the Penn-Biden Center, the Department of Justice was immediately notified, and the lawyers arranged for the Department of Justice to take possession of these documents,” the statement reads.

A person familiar with the situation said after the statement was released that in the case of the classified documents initially discovered at the Penn-Biden Center, Biden lawyers first notified the National Archives – not the Justice Department – which then in turn notified the Justice Department.

Biden’s lawyers followed “proper protocol” by first notifying the Archives with the first batch of classified documents, the person said, but because the Justice Department subsequently got involved and the president’s lawyers were then in touch with them, in the second instance, the lawyers informed the Justice Department.

The White House said it will continue to cooperate with the review by the Justice Department.

Biden largely read from the same prepared statement from the counsel’s office when speaking to reporters Thursday morning.

CNN reported Wednesday that Biden’s legal team had found another batch of classified documents in a search that began after classified documents were found at his former think tank office in Washington in early November.