House GOP launches investigation into Biden classified document discoveries

House Republicans are seeking information on the appointment of special counsel Robert Hur to investigate President Joe Biden's handling of classified documents and hand over records of communications between the DOJ, FBI, and the White House.

In a Friday letter to Attorney General Merrick Garland, House Judiciary Chairman Rep. Jim Jordan, R-Ohio, and Rep. Mike Johnson, R-La., said the committee was "conducting oversight of the Justice Department’s actions with respect to former Vice President Biden’s mishandling of classified documents, including the apparently unauthorized possession of classified material at a Washington, D.C. private office and in the garage of his Wilmington, Delaware residence."

They further observed that Garland's appointment of Hur had raised questions. Former President Donald Trump appointed Hur in 2018 to a legal posting in Maryland, wherein he established a record for taking on corrupt Democratic officials. Former Baltimore Mayor Catherine Pugh even found herself behind bars as a result of Hur's efforts.

He previously worked with former Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein and was an aide to now-FBI Director Christopher Wray. His association with the pair has raised some concerns among conservative circles.

President Joe Biden, who vehemently condemned former President Donald Trump's storage of classified documents at his Mar-a-Lago estate, appeared to have ink on his face this week following revelations that his aides had discovered classified documents in both his former office at the Penn Biden Center and his Delaware home.

The first discovery occurred in early November and the documents were handed over to the government at that time. Speculation has arisen that the government may have deliberately withheld the details of that incident until after the elections, which Jordan and Johnson addressed in their letter.

"It is unclear when the Department first came to learn about the existence of these documents, and whether it actively concealed this information from the public on the eve of the 2022 elections," they wrote. "It is also unclear what interactions, if any, the Department had with President Biden or his representatives about his mishandling of classified material."

The pair stopped short of making accusations, but noted that "[t]he Department’s actions here appear to depart from how it acted in similar circumstances."

The pair gave Garland until Jan. 27 to provide them with information surrounding the classified documents, Hur's appointment, and any communications between relevant federal agencies, and the University of Pennsylvania.