President Donald Trump, who was in office at the time, chose Robert Hur, a former U.S. attorney for Maryland, to serve as a special counsel to look into the presence of classified documents discovered at President Joe Biden’s home in Delaware and in an office in Washington.
Attorney General Merrick Garland announced Hur’s appointment on Thursday, shortly after Biden admitted that a classified document from his time as vice president was found in his personal library, along with other documents found in his garage. Hur will soon start working on the investigation.
Garland said, “I am sure that Mr. Hur will do his job in a fair and quick way that is in keeping with the highest traditions of this department.”
The appointment of Hur comes as the political effects of the investigation get worse. The Justice Department has been looking into Trump’s keeping of more than 300 classified documents at his Florida estate for months. Biden and other top Democrats were angry about what they found out, and Republicans have been very critical of what’s going on with Biden.
Hur said on Thursday that politics won’t change his mind.
He said in a statement, “I will do the assigned investigation with fairness, objectivity, and no bias.” “I plan to follow the facts quickly and completely, without fear or favour, and I will respect the trust that was put in me to do this job.”
Hur has a degree from Harvard and a law degree from Stanford. He also studied philosophy at King’s College in Cambridge, England. He worked as a law clerk for both Supreme Court Chief Justice William H. Rehnquist and 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals Judge Alex Kozinski.
Andrew Devooght, who worked with Hur when they were both law clerks for Rehnquist, called him an “incredibly good person” and said that, even though it sounds like a cliche, the public is lucky that someone like Hur is willing to serve in such an important position.
Devooght said, “You’d be hard-pressed to find a better mix of brilliance, work ethic, and honesty.”
Hur was Trump’s choice for U.S. Attorney in Maryland from 2018 to 2021. He was approved by the Senate unanimously after being nominated by Trump. Rod Rosenstein held the job before him. He did so for more than a decade before becoming the No. 2 person in the Justice Department during the Trump administration.
Hur is taking over the job from John Lausch, who was the top prosecutor for the Justice Department in Chicago. Lausch was sent by the department to look into the case and suggested to Garland last week that a special counsel be named.
Before becoming U.S. Attorney, Hur worked at the Justice Department as the top assistant attorney general under Rosenstein. Hur was also a partner at the law firm King & Spalding in Washington, where current FBI Director Christopher Wray used to work.
Hur was described as “one of the smartest people in Washington” by Stephen McBrady, a longtime friend and co-chair of the Government Contracts Group at the law firm Crowell & Moring Llp.
As U.S. Attorney, Hur was in charge of almost 90 assistant U.S. attorneys and 72 people who helped them. His office was in charge of the fraud case against Catherine Pugh, the former Democratic mayor of Baltimore. She was given a three-year prison sentence in 2020 for setting up fraudulent sales of her “Healthy Holly” books to schools, libraries, and a medical system. She did this to make money for herself, boost her political career, and pay for her mayoral campaign.
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