Attorney General Merrick Garland on Wednesday released a letter addressed to the leaders of the congressional Committees on the Judiciary announcing the end of the special counsel’s investigation into President Joe Biden’s mishandling of classified material.
The letter , which was addressed to Sens. Dick Durbin and Lindsey Graham as well as Reps. Jim Jordan and Jerry Nadler, made no mention of any criminal charges to be filed against Biden or anyone associated with him.
“On February 5, 2024 … Special Counsel [Robert K.] Hur submitted to me his final report accompanied by appendices and a letter from counsel,” Garland wrote.
“Prior to submitting his report to me, Special Counsel Hur engaged with the White House Counsel’s Office and the President’s personal counsel to allow comments on the report. That included review by the White House Counsel’s Office for executive privilege consistent with the President’s constitutional prerogatives.”
The letter did not include the report, which was still being reviewed by the White House to determine what, if any, material in it might be subject to executive privilege.
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Merrick Garland Letter by The Western Journal on Scribd
“The White House’s privilege review has not yet concluded,” Garland explained. “As have made clear regarding each Special Counsel who has served since I have taken office, I am committed to making as much of the Special Counsel’s report public as possible, consistent with legal requirements and Department policy. I will produce to Congress the report, its appendices, and the letter from counsel following completion of the White House’s privilege review.”
The letter provided no important details regarding the investigation, which will presumably be included in the special counsel’s report, which Politico predicted would “be made public soon.”
Should Biden have been charged in the classified documents case?
Ian Sams, a White House spokesman, told Politico the privilege review was expected to be completed this week.
After classified material was found in Biden’s garage in Delaware as well as among other records in the care of the Penn Biden Center for Diplomacy and Global Engagement in Washington, Garland appointed Hur as special counsel to investigate.
A total of roughly 20 classified documents were discovered at the two locations, according to Politico. (The left-leaning outlet was quick to point out that about 300 classified documents had been found two months earlier at former President Donald Trump‘s residence at Mar-a-Lago.)
No charges have been expected in the case against Biden, as unnamed officials told Politico in November, after Biden himself gave testimony in the investigation over the course of two days the previous month.
Moreover, “longstanding Justice Department legal opinions” essentially prevent the department from charging a sitting president, as it is the purview of Congress to charge the president, through impeachment proceedings, in the case of “Treason, Bribery, or other high Crimes and Misdemeanors,” according to the Constitution.
The report could still be damaging to Biden during an election year, however, according to Grant Reeher, a professor of political science at Syracuse University’s Maxwell School of Citizenship and Public Affairs.
Reeher told Newsweek that the Biden campaign was “rightfully concerned” about the political fall-out from the special counsel’s report — and especially from “potentially embarrassing photos.”
“One of Trump’s recurring lines of defense is the assertion of equivalencies, and this will no doubt play into that as Trump continues to deal with his legal issues,” Reeher told Newsweek. “I would even imagine some narrative to the effect that, if this is what Biden’s own Justice Department produces and concludes, just imagine how bad it really is.”
