Attorney General Merrick Garland announced the appointment of Robert Hur as the special counsel investigating the discovery of classified materials that may have been mishandled following President Biden’s time as vice president.
Who is Robert Hur?
Hur, a Harvard and Stanford graduate, was nominated in 2017 by then-President Trump to serve as U.S. attorney for the District of Maryland and confirmed the following year, making him the chief federal law enforcement officer in the state. He resigned from the post in early 2021.
Before the appointment, Hur, 50, was an assistant U.S. attorney for the District of Maryland. He prosecuted gang violence, drug trafficking and firearm offenses, as well as financial crimes.
His history in federal law enforcement extends to his time as a special assistant and counsel for then-Assistant Attorney General Christopher Wray, who was in charge of the Justice Department’s criminal division.
He was also a clerk for former Supreme Court Chief Justice William Rehnquist.
His private sector experience includes working as a partner in the Washington office of Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher.
Hur’s time in Maryland saw a number of high-profile federal prosecutions, including the likes of Baltimore Mayor Catherine Pugh, Police Commissioner Darryl De Sousa and state Del. Cheryl Glenn getting charged and convicted.
“U.S. Attorney Hur has been a great and effective partner at holding violent offenders accountable, especially with his work in addressing gang violence and intimidation,” Baltimore Police Commissioner Michael Harrison said in a statement when Hur stepped down.
Hur is a recipient of the attorney general’s Distinguished Service Award, which is given for superior performance and excellence as a lawyer.
Former Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan (R) appointed Hur to the state’s University System of Maryland Board of Regents, which oversees the system’s operations.
Also in Maryland, Hur is the chair of the Asian American Hate Crimes Workgroup, which was formed by Hogan to develop strategies to address rising violence and discrimination against Asian Americans.
“Former Maryland US Attorney Rob Hur is a prosecutor of the highest caliber and integrity,” Hogan said on X, the social media platform formerly known as Twitter, after Garland’s announcement. “I have faith in his ability to get the facts and hold power to account.”
‘Extraordinary circumstances’
Garland announced Hur’s appointment after a second batch of classified documents was found in the garage of Biden’s Wilmington, Del., residence.
“The extraordinary circumstances here require the appointment of a special counsel for this matter,” Garland said.
“This appointment underscores for the public the department’s commitment to both independence and accountability in particularly sensitive matters.”
Classified documents were first discovered in early November 2022 at an office Biden used after the Obama administration, with Biden attorneys notifying the National Archives and the Justice Department of the matter on Nov. 4 of that year.
“As the President said, he takes classified information and materials seriously, and as we have said, we have cooperated from the moment we informed the Archives that a small number of documents were found, and we will continue to cooperate. We have cooperated closely with the Justice Department throughout its review, and we will continue that cooperation with the Special Counsel,” Richard Sauber, former special counsel to the president, said in a statement.
“We are confident that a thorough review will show that these documents were inadvertently misplaced, and the President and his lawyers acted promptly upon discovery of this mistake.”
The Justice Department also appointed a special counsel, Jack Smith, to oversee the investigation into Trump’s mishandling of records after some 300 records bearing classified markings were discovered at his Mar-a-Lago residence.
Trump was later indicted in the case, and it is now one of several legal battles he is now involved in as he seeks to win back the presidency.
The report
In February, Hur released a 388-page report on the president’s retention of classified material. The report came to the conclusion that no charges should be brought against Biden, but did find that the president had problems with memory and recall.
Hur wrote in part that he did not think Biden could be convicted, because he believed a jury would by sympathetic to the president, who is 81.
“We have also considered that, at trial, Mr. Biden would likely present himself to a jury, as he did during our interview of him, as a sympathetic, well-meaning, elderly man with a poor memory,” Hur wrote.
“Based on our direct interactions with and observations of him, he is someone for whom many jurors will want to identify reasonable doubt. It would be difficult to convince a jury that they should convict him — by then a former president well into his eighties — of a serious felony that requires a mental state of willfulness.”
Biden’s age has been a campaign issue, and Democrats, including the president himself, responded with anger and outrage to Hur’s report, arguing the special counsel had taken a number of cheap shots.
In a fiery press conference in the wake of the release of the report, Biden defended his memory and cognitive abilities.
“I’m well-meaning and I’m an elderly man and I know what the hell I’m doing. I’ve been president, I put this country back on its feet. I don’t need his recommendation,” Biden said.
“My memory’s fine. My memory’s — take a look at what I’ve done since I became president. … How did that happen? I guess I just forgot what was going on,” he said.
Testimony
Hur testified before the House Judiciary Committee Tuesday morning, defending the report and his discussion of the president’s memory.
“The need to show my work was especially strong here. The Attorney General had appointed me to investigate the actions of the Attorney General’s boss, the sitting President of the United States. I knew that for my decision to be credible, I could not simply announce that I recommended no criminal charges and leave it at that. I needed to explain why,” Hur said.
Hur said both the “evidence and the president himself put his memory squarely at issue” by noting that he did not remember how the documents came to be in his home and garage.
Updated on March 12 at 11:13 a.m.