Back in November we learned that special counsel Robert Hur was expected to not pursue charges against Joe Biden for mishandling of classified documents. However, Biden’s team is still really nervous about Hur’s forthcoming report, which could come this week, because, according to a report from Axios, “they believe Hur’s report will include embarrassing details — possibly with photos — on how Biden stored documents.”
Even though Biden’s aides aren’t anticipating criminal charges, they are bracing for political damaging details to be made public. After his administration approved a raid on Trump’s home, where classified documents were kept in a secure room with the full knowledge of the National Archives, it wasn’t known that Biden had classified documents in his possession, and poorly stored. In fact, Biden defended himself by saying, “By the way, my Corvette is in a locked garage, so it’s not like they’re sitting out on the street.”
In late 2022, the classified documents were found in Biden’s private office at the Penn Biden Center as well as in his garage at home. However, the scandal didn’t get reported on until January 2023, after the midterm elections, indicating a cover-up.
“Biden aides believe that Donald Trump, Biden’s likely foe in November, will try to use Hur’s report to create equivalency with the felony charges Trump faces related to his keeping classified documents after his presidency,” Axios reports. “Biden aides believe Hur’s probe is done and that his final report could come any time — even as soon as this week — but the final timing is unclear.”
Related: It Looks Like the Biden Administration Pressured a Resistant FBI to Raid Mar-a-Lago
Some documents go back to his days as a U.S. senator. None of the documents were from a time when he had any authority to declassify them, and there is also evidence that Hunter Biden had access to them and potentially utilized them for his foreign business endeavors. Among the documents found at his residence were those pertaining to Ukraine. In an email to his former business partner Devon Archer, Hunter detailed 22 points of “research” on Ukraine, information he might not have known had he not had access to classified material.
The White House was also caught lying about the search at his home, claiming it had been completed already when in fact searches were still underway. It was also revealed that, despite repeatedly claiming to have been fully cooperating with the investigation, Joe Biden didn’t originally cooperate and opposed having the Department of Justice search his home.
While Biden’s team may be concerned, there are some questions about whether the Department of Justice will release the report at all.
Last fall, Garland said on “60 Minutes” that he would make public a special counsel’s report on Hunter Biden, the president’s son, “to the extent permissible under the law” to “explain [the] … decisions to prosecute or not prosecute, and their strategic decisions along the way.”
He added: “Usually, the special counsels have testified at the end of their reports, and I expect that that will be the case here.”
The answer suggested that Garland also would release Hur’s report, but a Justice Department spokesperson said Garland hasn’t committed to that.
With that in mind, I think the odds are good that we’ll never see the report at all.