Special Counsel Probe of Biden’s Classified Documents Is Complete

WSJ ^ | 2/6/24 | Aruna Viswanatha, Sadie Gurman

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WASHINGTON—Special Counsel Robert Hur has finished his investigation into President Biden’s handling of classified material and has written a sharply critical report, according to people familiar with the matter.

The report, which could add a dynamic to the 2024 presidential contest, is expected to be shared with Congress and made public in the coming days, the people said. A spokesman for Hur declined to comment, as did a spokeswoman for Biden’s personal lawyer.

Hur was appointed in January of last year to examine why sensitive documents ended up at Biden’s home and former office, which initially were discovered by the president’s personal attorneys as they moved his items out.

Hur isn’t expected to recommend criminal charges. But the report will include new details about how the documents were stored, the people familiar with the matter said. Aides to Biden have worried that the revelations could embarrass him as he campaigns for re-election against Donald Trump, the likely Republican presidential nominee who himself faces felony charges related to classified material he kept at his Florida estate.

The documents in question date to Biden’s time as vice president during the Obama administration as well as his days in the Senate. Their discovery came last year as another special counsel was examining similar issues involving Trump and as several other former senior officials came forward to say they also had found such material in their possession after government service.

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Kyle Becker
@kylenabecker
It gets crazier. Special Counsel Robert Hur’s report on Biden’s classified documents scandal GUTS the legal pretext for charging Donald Trump in the Mar-a-Lago case.

“The Constitution vests the president with ‘authority to classify and control access to information bearing on national security.’ ... By executive order, presidents since Franklin Roosevelt have prescribed a system for classifying and safeguarding national security information.”

“In 1994, Congress directed the president to establish by executive order or regulation uniform procedures governing access to classified information across the executive branch. President Obama issued the current order when Mr. Biden was vice president. Among other things, the order sets forth rules that determine whether a person may access classified information and how that information must be handled.”

“The 1994 statute-and, by implication, the current executive order governing classified information-do not apply to a sitting president or vice president, members of Congress, justices of the Supreme Court, and federal judges. There is, however, no statutory exception for a former president OR vice president, and the restrictions on access to classified information in the executive order and the rules prescribed under its authority appear to apply to such former officials.”

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I believe the full report is here:

https://www.justice.gov/storage/report-from-special-counsel-robert-k-hur-february-2024.pdf

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Greg Price
@greg_price11
·
1h
According to Robert Hur’s report, Biden’s ghost writer deleted audio recordings after the special counsel was appointed.

Yet Hur declined to charge him with obstruction.

Reminder that two Mar-a-Lago employees were charged along with Trump for moving boxes of documents.