Classified documents found at Biden's house: special prosecutor appointed in the United States to investigate

United States Attorney General Merrick Garland at a press conference at the Justice Department on Thursday, January 12, 2023, in Washington.

AP - Manuel Balce Ceneta

Text by: RFI Follow

3 mins

The White House in an area of ​​judicial turbulence.

After the discovery of classified documents dating from the vice-presidency of Joe Biden in private offices and residences of the current president, a special prosecutor has been appointed to investigate this case, this Thursday, January 12.

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With our correspondent in Washington,

Guillaume Naudin

The pressure born of the sequence of revelations for three days had become too strong.

In one of his usual solemn declarations, the Minister of Justice, Merrick Garland, recalls the chain of discoveries of the preliminary investigation.

First, a dozen classified documents found by the president's lawyers emptying a private office in Washington in November, then another document in the president's house at the end of December, and finally another in the same place on Wednesday, that's a lot.

Enough in any case to appoint a special prosecutor who will conduct an independent criminal investigation to find out if the law has been violated in the management of his official documents.

And as Merrick Garland values ​​the independence and impartiality of justice more than anything else, he chose Robert Hur to lead this investigation.

This former federal prosecutor from Maryland was appointed in his time by Donald Trump.

I firmly believe that the usual procedures of this department allow all investigations to be conducted with integrity.

But according to the rules, the circumstances, exceptional in this case, required a special prosecutor in this case.

This designation underscores to the public the department's commitment to both independence and accountability in particularly sensitive matters and the willingness to make decisions that are unquestionably grounded in fact and law.

I am confident that Mr. Hur will do his duty impartially, expeditiously and in accordance with the highest traditions of this department.

Merrick Garland, United States Attorney General

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Robert Hur, photographed in 2019 in Baltimore.

AP - Steve Ruark

“I take classified documents seriously”

It is the same procedure that had been launched for the former president, concerning the documents found at his home in Mar-a-Lago.

The Republicans will therefore have a little more difficulty in questioning this choice.

As for Joe Biden, who clearly finds himself in the eye of the storm, he continues to highlight his collaboration with justice in this case.

This discovery follows that of a first batch of documents of the same type, at his home.

The president spoke this time to repeat what he had already said two days earlier, after the announcement of the first discovery.

People know that I take classified documents and classified information seriously.

I also said that we are fully and completely cooperating with the Justice Department's investigation.

As part of this process, my lawyers inspected other places where documents from the time when I was vice president were stored and they finished this inspection this Wednesday evening.

They discovered a small number of documents marked classified in storage spaces, in filing cabinets in my house and my personal library.

As was done after the discoveries in my office at the Biden-Penn Center, the Justice Department was immediately notified, and the legal officers arranged for them to take possession.

Joe Biden, President of the United States

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 We are confident that a careful investigation will show that these documents were inadvertently misplaced and that the president and his attorneys acted promptly upon discovering this error 

,” said Richard Sauber, attorney for the presidency, in a press release.

►Read again: Headlines: in the United States, confidential documents embarrass Joe Biden

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  • Joe Biden

  • Justice