Special counsel Robert Hur’s report into President Joe Biden‘s mishandling of classified documents is expected to create political headaches for the incumbent in an election year.
Although unlikely to recommend criminal charges, the report, covering Hur’s yearlong investigation, is likely to exacerbate concerns about Biden’s competency and encourage comparisons between his case and the prosecution of former President Donald Trump in his federal classified documents matter.
Attorney General Merrick Garland confirmed in a letter to Congress on Wednesday that Hur completed his investigation into Biden’s classified documents and that once the White House finishes its review of the report, he will make “as much of the Special Counsel’s report public as possible.”
Biden, the White House, and his campaign have been bracing for Hur’s report into the 25-30 documents, some of which were from when the president was a senator, since they were discovered at his office in Washington, D.C., and home in Delaware before the 2022 midterm elections. The discovery of the documents was not disclosed to the public until January last year.
Simultaneously, Republicans are preparing to criticize Biden for being old and incompetent, in addition to contrasting Hur’s investigation to that of special counsel Jack Smith into Trump amid the former president’s other legal problems.
In particular, Republicans, such as former Arkansas U.S. Attorney Bud Cummins, are poised to condemn Biden for the documents found in his Wilmington garage, connecting them to his son Hunter before the younger Biden appears before Congress this month to respond to allegations of corruption. Others are set to underscore the documents located at his University of Pennsylvania Center for Diplomacy and Global Engagement office in Washington, D.C., scrutinizing the think tank for sourcing funding from China.
“It wouldn’t have taken Jason Bourne to penetrate Joe Biden’s usually unguarded garage,” Cummins told the Washington Examiner, referencing the book, movie, and now TV action thriller series. “The garage was sometimes watched over by Hunter Biden, who demonstrated a willingness to sell anything to anybody.”
“National security is obviously not a priority for the Biden administration,” he said.
Biden’s mishandling of classified documents coincides with his average net negative 15-point approval rating, and only 25% of polling respondents contend the country is on the right track, while 65% consider it to be headed in the wrong direction, at least according to RealClearPolitics.
At the same time, Republicans, including Trump himself, will claim that Democrats are weaponizing the Justice Department against their political opponents, repeating phrases from “a two-tiered justice system” to “lawfare,” which have surged in popularity since the FBI executed a court-approved search warrant at the former president’s Mar-a-Lago property in Florida during the summer of 2022 for his classified documents.
He has since been indicted on 37 counts, with charges ranging from retaining to sharing national defense records about nuclear programs and Iran attack plans under the Espionage Act. Biden supporters are reportedly worried the president will be embarrassed by photos in Hur’s report, similar to photos of boxes Trump stored in Mar-a-Lago’s ballroom and a bathroom in Smith’s indictment.
“One wonders whether Biden DOJ’s priority is protecting national security or just punishing defiance?” Cummins asked. “Trump ill-advisedly, but characteristically, defied their tainted authority. Not hard to understand his distrust after a two-year fake Russian collusion investigation. He got indicted for his defiance.”
Democrats, such as party strategist Stefan Hankin, reiterate the differences between Biden’s and Trump’s mishandling of classified documents, with the president not holding on to the records once he knew of their presence. But Hankin conceded that might not be understood by the public.
“Democrats are just going to be like, ‘Whatever.’ Republicans are going to be outraged. And then I would fully expect some line in the report to get lifted and put into ads about how Biden’s incompetent,” the consultant said.
“The Trump playbook is just flood as much crap as humanly possible into the discussion, and then everything feels like, ‘Oh, everyone’s doing the same thing, and there’s no differentiation between Trump’s boxes at Mar-a-Lago and the handful of files that ended up in Biden’s office or Biden’s garage or wherever,” he added. “The narrative is Biden’s old and incompetent, and Trump is insane. So, as long as it just keeps fueling the narrative, then, arguably, I’m going to say it’s good for Trump.”
Regardless of Hur’s report, House Republicans are anticipated to continue investigating Biden’s mishandling of classified documents despite not experiencing much success with their impeachment investigation into him.
“The Oversight Committee has requested interviews with current and former White House staff who were involved with organizing, moving, and removing boxes that contained classified materials, but the White House is blocking their testimony,” a House GOP aide said. “The Department of Justice is also refusing to provide information to the committee about whether President Biden retained sensitive documents related to specific countries involving his family’s foreign business schemes that brought in millions for the Biden family.”
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The White House did not respond to the Washington Examiner’s request for comment, but Biden has remained adamant that he takes classified documents “seriously” and has “no regrets” about his past behavior.
“As we have said from the beginning, the president and the White House are cooperating with this investigation, and as it has been appropriate, we have provided relevant updates publicly, being as transparent as we can consistent with protecting and preserving the integrity of the investigation,” White House Counsel’s Office spokesman Ian Sams said last October after confirming Biden had sat down for a two-day, voluntary interview with Hur’s team.
