Robert Hur tapped for special counsel in Biden classified documents probe
Robert Hur at an event in May 2019. Photo: Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images
Attorney General Merrick Garland announced Thursday that he appointed Robert Hur, former U.S. attorney for the District of Maryland, as special counsel to investigate President Biden's handling of classified documents.
Driving the news: Although there is no indication of criminal wrongdoing by Biden, Garland said, Hur's appointment was indicative of the Justice Department's "commitment to both independence and accountability in particularly sensitive matters."
The big picture: A longtime federal prosecutor, Hur has served multiple roles in the Justice Department.
- During the Trump administration, Hur was an associate deputy attorney general from 2017 to 2018, working as the top aide to Rod Rosenstein, the Washington Post reported.
- From 2018 to 2021, Hur served as the U.S. attorney for the District of Maryland, where he focused on issues such as violent crime, fraud and cybercrimes, per the Post.
- He had also previously served as top aide to now-FBI director Christopher Wray, when Wray was leading the Justice Department’s criminal division, per CBS News.
- After leaving the government in 2021, Hur took a partner role in Washington D.C.'s Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher law firm.
- A graduate of Harvard and Stanford Law School, early in his career Hur clerked for late U.S. Supreme Court Chief Justice William Rehnquist.
What they're saying: “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," Hur said in a statement Thursday.
State of play: Hur's appointment as special counsel comes after the discovery of two sets of classified documents from Biden's time as vice president in Biden's Wilmington, Delaware, home and a private office space.
- Former President Trump faces a separate special counsel inquiry over his hoarding of hundreds of classified documents at his Mar-a-Lago home, with special counsel Jack Smith leading the probe.
Go deeper: 3 ways Biden and Trump's classified doc discovery differed at outset