AG says special counsel has closed investigation into Biden's handling of classified documents

Investigators spent more than a year probing Biden's handling of sensitive records.

Attorney General Merrick Garland told the heads of the House and Senate Judiciary Committees that special counsel Robert Hurr has concluded his investigation into classified documents found in a home linked to President Joe Biden.

Garland said Harr submitted his report to the Justice Department on Monday and was committed to “making the special counsel's report as public as possible.”

The attorney general told congressional leaders that the White House review of its contents for executive authority is not yet complete.

Hurr spent more than a year examining how approximately two dozen sensitive records were located in Biden's private home and office. The records in question date back to Biden's time as vice president, and some include “top secret” identifications, the highest classification.

Garland appointed Harr as special counsel in January 2023 after presidential aides discovered a set of ten documents at the Ben-Biden Center in Washington, D.C.

A second discovery of additional records in Biden's Wilmington, Delaware, garage precipitated Garland's decision to appoint Har as special counsel, ABC News reported at the time.

Investigators interviewed 100 current and former officials, including Secretary of State Anthony Blinken, former White House chief of staff Ron Klein and the president's son, Hunter Biden. In October, Harin's team spent two days interviewing Biden.

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The White House has insisted from the outset that it is cooperating with investigators. Biden has repeatedly denied personal wrongdoing and said he was “surprised” to learn of the documents' existence.

The Hur trial played out quietly against the backdrop of special counsel Jack Smith's investigation into former President Donald Trump's handling of classified records, which culminated in a 40-count indictment last year in which Trump pleaded not guilty.

Trump sought to connect his circumstances to Biden's by trying to draw a balance between their behavior and calling his prosecution the result of a justice system that improperly targeted Republicans.

But records released by the National Archives indicate that Biden's legal team cooperated with National Archives officials, while federal prosecutors have accused Trump of deliberately withholding classified records from investigators at the National Archives and later the FBI.

Sources told ABC News that officials have uncovered incidents of indiscretion since Biden's vice presidency, but that — based on what witnesses told investigators — appeared to them to be the improper disposal of classified documents when Biden left the White House. 2017 is a misdemeanor rather than a criminal act.

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