WASHINGTON (Reuters) Jan,13 – U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland on Wednesday appointed a special counsel to investigate the improper storage of classified documents at President Joe Biden’s home and former office. .
The investigation is a distraction for the Democratic president, who has criticized his predecessor’s handling of sensitive materials, and could overshadow Biden as they prepare for the 2024 election. be.
Garland, who served as Maryland’s state attorney general under Trump, as a quasi-independent prosecutor, said Mr. Biden’s vice-presidential secret record was inappropriate for his home in Delaware and a think tank in Washington. It said it would determine whether it had been stored in
Mr. Garland said Mr. Ha would investigate “whether an individual or entity has broken the law.”
The footage was found in a room adjacent to the garage of Biden’s home, the White House said. He promised to work with Probe. Some Republicans in Congress said they were better placed than the Justice Department to conduct the investigation.
“If a special counsel is appointed, it will limit our ability to conduct some of the oversight investigations we want to conduct,” said Rep. James Comer, who heads the House Oversight Committee.
Garland appointed special counsel Jack Smith to oversee the investigation into Trump in November, shortly after Trump announced he would seek the Republican nomination to run for president again in 2024.
About 100 classified documents were among the thousands of records seized at Trump’s Mar-a-Lago vacation home in Florida in August. Biden called Trump’s actions in September “totally irresponsible.” Biden, 80, will officially begin his re-election campaign in the coming weeks.
The White House said Biden was unaware of the contents of the document.
White House attorney Sauber said Biden’s personal lawyers were locked up in November while packing files in an office previously owned by the Penn Biden Center for Diplomacy and Global Engagement. University of Pennsylvania think tank.
These attorneys turned over the material to the U.S. National Archives, the agency responsible for keeping government records.
The White House announced the findings to the public on Monday. Hours before Garland’s announcement, Sauber said classified documents from the time were found at Biden’s Delaware home.
Garland revealed Thursday that the Delaware documents were found on his Dec. 20. This means the White House knew about them and he didn’t mention them when he made his initial disclosure on Jan. 9.
White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre suggested the ongoing “trial” is preventing the government from telling the public any more. During his presidency, Trump met with Special Counsel Robert Mueller and found insufficient evidence to conclude that the Trump campaign’s contact with Russia during the 2016 presidential campaign constituted criminal activity. Mueller did not exonerate Trump for obstruction of justice, but then-Attorney General William Barr, a Trump-appointed agent, subsequently acquitted him.
Democratic President Bill Clinton was also being pursued by independent prosecutor Ken Starr, who uncovered evidence of an extramarital affair with a White House intern that led to Clinton’s impeachment.
