Special counsel appointed to investigate documents found at Biden’s home and former office

Amna Nawaz:

Another batch of classified documents from President Biden's time as vice president were found inside his Delaware home, the White House said today.

This came after the disclosure earlier this week of documents found inside a Washington office. Today, Attorney General Merrick Garland announced the appointment of a special counsel to determine whether anyone broke the law.

Merrick Garland, U.S. Attorney General:

The extraordinary circumstances here require the appointment of a special counsel for this matter.

This appointment underscores for the public the department's commitment to both independence and accountability in particularly sensitive matters and to making decisions indisputably guided only by the facts and the law.

Amna Nawaz:

For his part, the president and his team believe the documents were simply misplaced and pledged to aid the investigation.

Joe Biden, President of the United States: People know I take classified documents and classified material seriously. I also said we're cooperating fully and completely with the Justice Department's review.

The Department of Justice was immediately notified. And the lawyers arranged for the Department of Justice to take possession of the document.

Amna Nawaz:

Our White House correspondent, Laura Barron-Lopez, is here now to explain this new phase of the investigation.

Good to see you, Laura.

Laura Barrón-López:

Good to be here.

Amna Nawaz:

So, let's just take a step back, review the timeline and see how we got here.

What exactly was found in Mr. Biden's possession and when?

Laura Barrón-López:

So, Attorney General Merrick Garland actually gave us a whole timeline today.

It starts on November 4, 2022. Archives notified DOJ about documents found at Penn Biden Center office. Then, November 9, 2022, FBI began their assessment. November 14, 2022, A.G. Merrick Garland assigned U.S. attorney John Lausch to investigate.

December 20 of last year, Biden's lawyer notified DOJ of additional documents found at his Delaware home, and then January 5 of this year, Lausch briefed Garland and advised that there should be appointment of a special counsel. And then, today, January 12, an additional document was found at President Biden's Delaware home, and they notified the authorities.

So, that is essentially the full timeline that we have so far around all of these classified documents.

Amna Nawaz:

We know Attorney General Merrick Garland has now appointed that special counsel to look into this. Tell us about who that is and what happens now.

Laura Barrón-López:

Attorney General Merrick Garland appointed Robert Hur.

He is a former U.S. attorney from Maryland. And he was appointed by former President Trump in 2017. Garland said today that Hur has supervised a number of DOJ matters relating to national security, public corruption and other high-profile issues.

One key thing here is that I spoke to a former DOJ official, and that person, as well as other experts, have said that this could very well be a faster investigation, even though there are still elements that we don't know, but that because of the fact that it appears more straightforward, given the timeline of how the Biden team and his lawyers returned the documents.

The one other thing is the — that is going to potentially happen, which has not been announced yet, is the damage assessment from the director of national intelligence, which is a common thing that happens in cases when classified documents are found where they're not supposed to be found.

Amna Nawaz:

So there is a special counsel also looking into former President Trump's handling of classified documents at his Florida estate of Mar-a-Lago.

What is the difference between this probe now?

Laura Barrón-López:

So, we have a number of differences here, right, between the two of them. With President Biden, it was so far a small number of classified documents that appeared to be found, with former President Trump, around 300 classified documents. For President Biden, it was found in his D.C. office and Delaware home. In Trump, it was found in his Mar-a-Lago, Florida, estate

And then, for President Biden, it was turned over voluntarily and immediately. This is a key difference, because, for President Trump, as we all know, it was seized by FBI authorities during the search after it had been withheld for more than a year. And that's really big here. When you talk to legal experts, when you talk to former DOJ officials, they say that that criminal difference — the potential for criminal charges is different, because former President Trump right now, we know, is being investigated for potentially violating the Espionage Act for the removal and destruction of records, but especially for the obstruction of justice.

And, of course, also, today, House Republicans have been saying that they are going to investigate President Biden's handling of classified documents alongside this investigation.

Amna Nawaz:

Our White House correspondent, Laura Barrón-López, following it all.

Thank you, Laura.

Laura Barrón-López:

Thank you.