Ex-Trump appointee Robert Hur tapped to investigate Biden classified documents

Robert Hur, the former U.S. Attorney appointed by then-President Donald Trump, has been tapped to look into the recent discovery of classified documents found in President Joe Biden’s home and former private office.

U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland announced on Thursday that Hur, 50, would lead the investigation team after a White House official revealed that Biden’s lawyers found documents with classified markings in the garage of his Wilmington, Delaware, home. The second batch of documents was from when Biden was still the country’s vice president.

In a statement, Garland said he had already signed the order that “authorizes him [Hur] to investigate whether any person or entity violated the law in connection with this matter.”

“The extraordinary circumstances here require the appointment of a special counsel for this matter,” Garland said. “This appointment underscores for the public the department’s commitment to both independence and accountability in particularly sensitive matters.”

Following Garland’s announcement, Hur said in a statement: “I will conduct the assigned investigation with fair, impartial, and dispassionate judgment. I intend to follow the facts swiftly and thoroughly, without fear or favor, and will honor the trust placed in me to perform this service.”

The investigation began when Biden’s personal attorneys found and identified the classified documents at his former private office at the Penn Biden Center for Diplomacy and Global Engagement in Washington before the midterm elections on Nov. 2, 2022.

Confirming the incident in a statement to CBS News, Biden’s special counsel Richard Sauber explained that the personal attorneys “were packing files housed in a locked closet to prepare to vacate office space at the Penn Biden Center in Washington, D.C.”

Sources familiar with the matter did not provide further details regarding the contents of the documents or their classification level.

Sauber said they immediately notified the U.S. Department of Justice after discovering the two batches of documents.

Speaking to reporters in Mexico City early this week, Biden said he was surprised when he learned that there were government records taken to his Washington office.

“By the way, my Corvette’s in a locked garage, so it’s not like they’re sitting out in the street,” Biden told reporters on Thursday. “People know I take classified documents and classified material seriously.”

“We are confident that a thorough review will show that these documents were inadvertently misplaced, and the President and his lawyers acted promptly upon discovery of this mistake,” Sauber said.

Hur, a Harvard and Stanford graduate and a veteran prosecutor, was made the chief federal law enforcement officer in the state of Maryland during the Trump administration.

Before his appointment by Trump, Hur worked as a clerk for former Supreme Court Chief Justice William Rehnquist and later as an assistant U.S. attorney for the District of Maryland, where he prosecuted gang violence, drug trafficking and financial crimes, to name a few.

During his time in Maryland, Hur saw several high-profile federal figures prosecuted, including Baltimore Mayor Catherine Pugh, Police Commissioner Darryl De Sousa and state Del. Cheryl Glenn.

A recipient of the attorney general’s Distinguished Service Award, Hur is the chair of the Asian American Hate Crimes Workgroup, a workgroup formed by outgoing Republican Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan.

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