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The 411 On The Two Special Counsels Investigating Trump And Biden Classified Documents

One is a Trump-appointee that headed up an investigation into a former Democrat Mayor, the other has been investigating war crimes at the Hague.

In just 9 weeks, Attorney General Merrick Garland has appointed two separate Special Counsels to investigate the handling of classified documents by the former President and the current President.

On November 18, just days after former President Donald Trump announced he was running for President in 2024, AG Garland announced the appointment of Special Counsel Jack Smith to criminal investigations into the retention of classified documents by Trump at his Mar-a-Lago home that had been requested by the National Archives.

On January 12, AG Garland held a press conference where he announced that he was appointing another Special Counsel to launch an investigation into the handling of classified documents from Joe Biden’s time as Vice President that were found in three locations in November and December — including next to Joe’s 1967 Corvette Stingray in the garage of the Bidens’ Wilmington, Delaware home.

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Special Counsel Jack Smith — Trump Documents

  • Assistant District Attorney with the New York County District Attorney’s Office in Manhattan (beginning 1994)
  • Assistant US Attorney Eastern District of New York (beginning 1999)
  • Oversaw war crimes investigations under the Office of the Prosecutor at the International Criminal Court at The Hague (2008-10)
  • Joined DOJ’s Public Integrity Section (beginning 2010)
  • Assistant U.S. Attorney Middle District of Tennessee (2015)
  • Acting United States Attorney (March 2017-September 2017)
  • Vice President and Head of Litigation for Hospital Corporation of America (beginning 2017)
  • Named for a 4-year term as Chief Prosecutor, Kosovo Specialist Chambers in The Hague (2018)

Smith’s experience ranges from prosecuting a sitting US senator to bringing cases against gang members who were ultimately convicted of murdering New York City police officers. In recent years, Smith has prosecuted war crimes at The Hague. His career in multiple parts of the Justice Department, as well as in international courts, has allowed him to keep a relatively low-profile in the oftentimes brassy legal industry.
His experience and resume will allow him, at least at first, to fly underneath the type of political blowback that quickly met former special counsel Robert Mueller’s team. It also shows he is adept at managing complex criminal cases related to both public corruption and national security – and that he has practice making challenging decisions with political implications.
Source: CNN

Smith has investigated both Democrats and Republicans and has been praised for his “unbiased approach.”

He was head of the DOJ’s Public Integrity Unit when:

  • then-Virginia Gov. Bob McDonnell, a Republican, was indicted in 2014.
  • the DOJ failed to convict at trial former Democratic Senator and vice presidential candidate John Edwards.
  • the DOJ investigated former Republican House Majority Leader Tom DeLay, concluding the investigation without alleging DeLay committed any crime.

In 2014, Smith testified before the Republican-led House Oversight Committee investigating the IRS targeting Tea Party groups for setting up a 2010 meeting between Justice Department officials and then-IRS official Lois Lerner when he was with the DOJ’s Public Integrity Unit. Lerner was at the center of the IRS scandal.

Smith is investigating:

  • whether to charge Trump with offenses related to his handling of classified materials.
  • whether Trump engaged in crimes surrounding his alleged efforts to disrupt the lawful transfer of power.

While all reports state that Smith is registered as an independent, the House Judiciary GOP doesn’t seem to think that he’s going to be impartial.

Special Counsel Robert Hur — Biden Documents

  • Stanford Law School graduate (2001)
  • Law clerk for Judge Alex Kozinski with the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit (2001)
  • Law clerk for Supreme Court Justice William Renquist (2002-03)
  • Counsel and Special Assistant to Christopher Wray, U.S. Department of Justice (2003-05)
  • Assistant U.S. Attorney, District of Maryland (2007-14)
  • Principal Associate Deputy Attorney General, U.S. Department of Justice (2017-18)
  • U.S. Attorney for the District of Maryland (2018-21)
  • Hur served under then-deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein prior to his appointment as U.S. Attorney for Maryland.

Hur, 49, was nominated to be US attorney for Maryland in November 2017 by former President Donald Trump. He was unanimously confirmed by the Senate the following March and took office on April 9, 2018.
Hur served fewer than three years as US Attorney, resigning in February 2021, soon after Trump left office. In his highest-profile case, he secured the conviction of former Baltimore Mayor Catherine Pugh, who was sentenced to three years in prison for using a self-published children’s book scheme to funnel hundreds of thousands of dollars to her political campaigns.
Prior to his appointment, Hur served under then-deputy attorney general Rod Rosenstein and a former DOJ official who knows Hur told The Post he was widely viewed as Rosenstein’s “sidekick.”
The two men often formed “a duo” at events inside the department and were seen together on social occasions as well, the source said.
Source: New York Post

NPR notes that one of the things that Hur was doing as Rosenstein’s top aide was “overseeing the special counsel investigation into Russian election interference, meeting regularly with then-special counsel Robert Mueller.”

Robert Hur is a registered Republican.

Hur is investigating:

  • whether President Biden mishandled classified documents.

Despite Hunter Biden listing Joe and Jill’s home in Delaware as his residence in 2018, (the same residence where the classified documents were found,) it’s not very likely that Hur’s investigation will involve Biden’s troubled son.

AG Garland has so far refused to appoint a Special Counsel to investigate Biden’s role in his brother James and son Hunter’s international business dealings when Joe was Vice President.

Second-term Congressman Troy Nehls (R-TX) tweeted that he thinks that the fix is in.


Sources:

“Who is Jack Smith, the special counsel named in the Trump investigations” — CNN, November 18, 2022.
“Special Counsel Tapped by Merrick Garland to Investigate Trump Formerly Prosecuted Top Democrats and Republicans” — Law & Crime, November 18, 2022.
“Who is Robert Hur, special counsel reviewing Biden classified docs?” — New York Post, January 12, 2023.
“Who is Robert Hur, the special counsel leading the Biden classified documents inquiry” — NPR, January 13, 2023.

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