Attorney General Merrick Garland has appointed a former Maryland-based federal prosecutor to serve as a special counsel who will supervise the department’s probe into how classified documents ended up in two locations linked to President Joe Biden.
Mr Garland announced on Thursday that he was naming Robert Hur, a a partner in the Washington, D.C. office of the Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher law firm who served as the US Attorney for Maryland from 2018 to 2021, as a special prosecutor who will operate outside the department’s normal chain of command.
“This appointment underscores for the public the department’s commitment to both independence and accountability and particularly sensitive matters and to making decisions indisputably guided only by the facts and the law. I am confident that Mr. Hur will carry out his responsibility in an even handed and urgent manner and in accordance with the highest traditions of this department,” he said.
The attorney general told reporters the Illinois-based, Trump-appointed prosecutor who has been handling the case thus far, John Lausch, told him he is unable to continue supervising the matter as a longer-term assignment because he plans to leave government service this year, and said he is “grateful” to Mr Lausch and his team for conducting the investigation so far “with professionalism and speed”.
Mr Garland also said he believes the normal Justice Department processes are capable of handling the matter of the classified documents at Mr Biden’s home and former office “with integrity,” but said department regulations “require the appointment of a special counsel for this matter” because of the “extraordinary circumstances” it poses.
