First modification:
The US Department of Justice appointed a special prosecutor on January 12 to investigate the classified documents found in a residence and in an office of Joe Biden. The President of the United States is now embroiled in a case curiously similar to that of his predecessor Donald Trump. Do they both face the same judicial fate?
Classified documents from the White House were found in the residence and in an office of US President Joe Biden. History repeats itself a few months apart, since something similar already happened with his predecessor Donald Trump.
Differences between Trump and Biden
“There are important differences in the two cases, in how the documents came to light, their volume and, most importantly, how Trump responded on the one hand and Biden on the other hand. In Trump’s case, he and his aides resisted repeated government efforts to recover documents that were flagged by the national archives. In the case of Biden, it was his lawyers who found the documents and who informed the national archives, ”reed Brody, former assistant attorney for the state of New York, details for RFI.
According to him, “those differences may have important legal implications, because the Espionage Act, for example, makes it a crime for someone without authorization to knowingly withhold a national security secret or fail to deliver it upon request.”
Robert K. Hur, Special Counsel
United States Attorney General Merrick GarlandCiting “extraordinary circumstances,” it appointed a special counsel to investigate the handling of these classified documents. Garland named Robert K. Hur, a former federal prosecutor in Maryland who served as a senior Justice Department official during the Trump administration: “I have signed an order appointing Robert Hur as special counsel on the matter I just mentioned. The document authorizes him to investigate whether ‘any person or entity violated the law in connection with this matter,’” he stated.
“In the public interest, it was important to go a step further and appoint a prosecutor who has more day-to-day autonomy than Justice Department prosecutors, who can be removed solely for misconduct, but are not fully independent. Knowing Attorney General Merrick Garland, he is very by the book with the rules. He named a Republican, and I think they will do everything so that no sign of partisan politics appears ”, comments Reed Brody. Ultimately, explains the former deputy prosecutor, the Minister of Justice is the one who will validate any accusation. If he decides to oppose it, he risks a political war.
Karine Jean-Pierre, Joe Biden’s press officer, said the White House will continue to cooperate with the Justice Department and special counsel to prove that these documents were inadvertently planted in these locations.
These discoveries come weeks after United States Attorney General Merrick Garland appointed Jack Smith as special counsel to conduct an investigation into the mishandling of hundreds of classified documents that were brought to Mar-a-Lago after the Trump ended his presidency.
