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Attorney General Merrick Garland speaks following a briefing in Washington, D.C. on July 6, 2022.
(Photo: Bonnie Cash/Pool/AFP via Getty Images)
Garland Appoints Special Counsel Over Classified Biden Documents
The attorney general swiftly appointed a former U.S. attorney to investigate the president’s handling of a small number of Obama administration records.
Jan 12, 2023
U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland on Thursday appointed a special counsel to investigate the classified documents found at President Joe Biden’s former office and his home in Delaware, saying the probe would be conducted in “an even-handed and urgent manner.”
Robert Hur, a partner at the law firm Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher who worked in the Trump administration, was named as the special counsel who will investigate “the possible unauthorized removal and retention of classified documents or other records.”
The announcement came the same day the White House confirmed that a “small number” of documents with classified markings had been found in the garage at Biden’s residence in Wilmington, Delaware. That discovery was reported to the Justice Department several weeks after Biden’s personal attorneys found “a small number of documents with classified markings” in a locked closet at the Penn Biden Center for Diplomacy and Global Engagement, a think tank opened by the president after his vice presidential term ended in 2017.
Following the first discovery, Vox reported on Thursday, Biden’s attorneys notified the National Archives immediately and returned the documents the next day. The FBI went to the president’s home in Wilmington following the discovery of the second batch of documents and secured them.
The news of the classified records this week sparked calls from Republicans for an investigation, with House Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) demanding a congressional probe and noting that Biden was among those who criticized former President Donald Trump over the discovery of hundreds classified documents at Mar-a-Lago, his estate in Florida.
As Vox reported, the two cases appear to have significant differences:
There were purportedly 10 documents with classified markings at the Penn Biden Center and a “small number” at Biden’s Wilmington residence; over 300 were at Mar-a-Lago.
Biden’s team claims to have returned the documents as soon as they discovered them, volunteering them to the National Archives without being asked. Trump, when asked by the Archives to return missing documents, gave back some but fought hard against returning others, including reportedly ordering some boxes moved to hide them from visiting government officials.
Trump insisted the classified documents be kept at Mar-a-Lago. Biden’s level of involvement in keeping the documents is unclear, but they were reportedly found among other personal documents of his.
Some progressives noted on social media that it took Garland far less time to appoint a special counsel in the case of Biden’s classified documents than in the case regarding Mar-a-Lago.
\u201cDays it took DOJ to appoint a special counsel, after the government learned classified documents being held:\n\nTrump: 557 days\nBiden: 71 days\u201d— Sawyer Hackett (@Sawyer Hackett) 1673548140
Hur said in a statement Thursday that he “will conduct the assigned investigation with fair, impartial, and dispassionate judgment.”
“I intend to follow the facts swiftly and thoroughly, without fear or favor,” he added, “and will honor the trust placed in me to perform this service.”
White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre told reporters Thursday afternoon that the president “takes classified documents and information very seriously.”
Jean-Pierre declined to speak in detail about Garland’s announcement, saying, “This is a president who believes in the independence of the Justice Department.”
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U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland on Thursday appointed a special counsel to investigate the classified documents found at President Joe Biden’s former office and his home in Delaware, saying the probe would be conducted in “an even-handed and urgent manner.”
Robert Hur, a partner at the law firm Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher who worked in the Trump administration, was named as the special counsel who will investigate “the possible unauthorized removal and retention of classified documents or other records.”
The announcement came the same day the White House confirmed that a “small number” of documents with classified markings had been found in the garage at Biden’s residence in Wilmington, Delaware. That discovery was reported to the Justice Department several weeks after Biden’s personal attorneys found “a small number of documents with classified markings” in a locked closet at the Penn Biden Center for Diplomacy and Global Engagement, a think tank opened by the president after his vice presidential term ended in 2017.
Following the first discovery, Vox reported on Thursday, Biden’s attorneys notified the National Archives immediately and returned the documents the next day. The FBI went to the president’s home in Wilmington following the discovery of the second batch of documents and secured them.
The news of the classified records this week sparked calls from Republicans for an investigation, with House Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) demanding a congressional probe and noting that Biden was among those who criticized former President Donald Trump over the discovery of hundreds classified documents at Mar-a-Lago, his estate in Florida.
As Vox reported, the two cases appear to have significant differences:
There were purportedly 10 documents with classified markings at the Penn Biden Center and a “small number” at Biden’s Wilmington residence; over 300 were at Mar-a-Lago.
Biden’s team claims to have returned the documents as soon as they discovered them, volunteering them to the National Archives without being asked. Trump, when asked by the Archives to return missing documents, gave back some but fought hard against returning others, including reportedly ordering some boxes moved to hide them from visiting government officials.
Trump insisted the classified documents be kept at Mar-a-Lago. Biden’s level of involvement in keeping the documents is unclear, but they were reportedly found among other personal documents of his.
Some progressives noted on social media that it took Garland far less time to appoint a special counsel in the case of Biden’s classified documents than in the case regarding Mar-a-Lago.
\u201cDays it took DOJ to appoint a special counsel, after the government learned classified documents being held:\n\nTrump: 557 days\nBiden: 71 days\u201d— Sawyer Hackett (@Sawyer Hackett) 1673548140
Hur said in a statement Thursday that he “will conduct the assigned investigation with fair, impartial, and dispassionate judgment.”
“I intend to follow the facts swiftly and thoroughly, without fear or favor,” he added, “and will honor the trust placed in me to perform this service.”
White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre told reporters Thursday afternoon that the president “takes classified documents and information very seriously.”
Jean-Pierre declined to speak in detail about Garland’s announcement, saying, “This is a president who believes in the independence of the Justice Department.”
Related Articles Around the Web
U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland on Thursday appointed a special counsel to investigate the classified documents found at President Joe Biden’s former office and his home in Delaware, saying the probe would be conducted in “an even-handed and urgent manner.”
Robert Hur, a partner at the law firm Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher who worked in the Trump administration, was named as the special counsel who will investigate “the possible unauthorized removal and retention of classified documents or other records.”
The announcement came the same day the White House confirmed that a “small number” of documents with classified markings had been found in the garage at Biden’s residence in Wilmington, Delaware. That discovery was reported to the Justice Department several weeks after Biden’s personal attorneys found “a small number of documents with classified markings” in a locked closet at the Penn Biden Center for Diplomacy and Global Engagement, a think tank opened by the president after his vice presidential term ended in 2017.
Following the first discovery, Vox reported on Thursday, Biden’s attorneys notified the National Archives immediately and returned the documents the next day. The FBI went to the president’s home in Wilmington following the discovery of the second batch of documents and secured them.
The news of the classified records this week sparked calls from Republicans for an investigation, with House Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) demanding a congressional probe and noting that Biden was among those who criticized former President Donald Trump over the discovery of hundreds classified documents at Mar-a-Lago, his estate in Florida.
As Vox reported, the two cases appear to have significant differences:
There were purportedly 10 documents with classified markings at the Penn Biden Center and a “small number” at Biden’s Wilmington residence; over 300 were at Mar-a-Lago.
Biden’s team claims to have returned the documents as soon as they discovered them, volunteering them to the National Archives without being asked. Trump, when asked by the Archives to return missing documents, gave back some but fought hard against returning others, including reportedly ordering some boxes moved to hide them from visiting government officials.
Trump insisted the classified documents be kept at Mar-a-Lago. Biden’s level of involvement in keeping the documents is unclear, but they were reportedly found among other personal documents of his.
Some progressives noted on social media that it took Garland far less time to appoint a special counsel in the case of Biden’s classified documents than in the case regarding Mar-a-Lago.
\u201cDays it took DOJ to appoint a special counsel, after the government learned classified documents being held:\n\nTrump: 557 days\nBiden: 71 days\u201d— Sawyer Hackett (@Sawyer Hackett) 1673548140
Hur said in a statement Thursday that he “will conduct the assigned investigation with fair, impartial, and dispassionate judgment.”
“I intend to follow the facts swiftly and thoroughly, without fear or favor,” he added, “and will honor the trust placed in me to perform this service.”
White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre told reporters Thursday afternoon that the president “takes classified documents and information very seriously.”
Jean-Pierre declined to speak in detail about Garland’s announcement, saying, “This is a president who believes in the independence of the Justice Department.”
Related Articles Around the Web
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LATEST NEWS
ACLU Asks Court to Free Journalist at Risk of Swift Deportation to El Salvador
“If Mr. Guevara is deported it will be a devastating outcome for a journalist whose initial detention was a gross violation of his rights,” said ACLU of Georgia legal director Cory Isaacson.
Sep 19, 2025
The ACLU is asking a federal district court in Georgia to order the immediate release of Mario Guevara, a journalist arrested while covering a June "No Kings" protest, after the Board of Immigration Appeals on Friday ordered his return to El Salvador.
The Emmy-winning Spanish-language journalist has reported on immigrant issues in the Atlanta area for two decades. When he was arrested on the job this year, he had a work permit and a path to a green card through his US citizen son. The charges from June have been dropped, but he remains at the US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) center in Folkston.
ICE refused to comply with a July 1 decision that Guevara could be released on bond. The Board of Immigration Appeals has now dismissed his bond appeal "as 'moot' because it has also granted the government's motion to reopen his removal proceedings," according to the ACLU—which secured an emergency federal district court hearing on Friday.
"Mr. Guevara should not even be in immigration detention, but the government has kept him there for months because of his crucial reporting on law enforcement activity," said Scarlet Kim, senior staff attorney with the ACLU's Speech, Privacy, and Technology Project. "The fact that he may now be put on a plane to El Salvador, a country he fled out of fear, at any moment, despite a clear path to becoming a permanent resident, is despicable. The court must ensure he is not deported and should order his release from detention immediately."
"The fact that he may now be put on a plane to El Salvador, a country he fled out of fear, at any moment, despite a clear path to becoming a permanent resident, is despicable."
In a letter published Friday by The Bitter Southerner, Guevara detailed his experience since his arrest and wrote: "I don't know why ICE wants to continue treating me like a criminal. It pains me to know that I have been denied every privilege and the right to be free when I have never committed any crime."
"This whole situation has me devastated, and not only morally, but also economically, because I am the breadwinner for the home," he explained. "Since my arrest, I have lost tens of thousands of dollars, and my company, the news channel MGNews, is on the verge of bankruptcy."
"But I have to remain strong and confident that the United States still has some caring and decency left and that in the end justice will prevail," he added. "Hopefully, soon all my tears and my family's tears will be wiped away, and we can have fun and smile, triumphant, as we did before, together and in absolute freedom."
Guevara's legal team and press freedom groups have emphasized that his case is bigger than a single reporter. As ACLU of Georgia legal director Cory Isaacson put it on Friday, "If Mr. Guevara is deported it will be a devastating outcome for a journalist whose initial detention was a gross violation of his rights."
"The immediate release of Mr. Guevara is the only way to correct this injustice that has immeasurably harmed his well-being and the well-being of his family, the community, and the people of Georgia," Isaacson added. "In a democracy, journalists should not be arrested for exercising their constitutional rights to report the news."
Mario Guevara is here legally and is not facing any criminal charges.He is being thrown out of the country for nothing but reporting news.
[image or embed]
— Freedom of the Press Foundation (@freedom.press) September 19, 2025 at 3:00 PM
Other free press advocates also responded with alarm to the Board of Immigration Appeals' Friday decision.
"We are outraged that journalist Mario Guevara was initially detained for almost 100 days because the government believes that livestreaming law enforcement poses a danger to their operations," Committee to Protect Journalists US, Canada, and Caribbean program coordinator Katherine Jacobsen said in a Friday statement.
"This latest move allows the government to circumvent addressing the reason why Guevara was detained, in retaliation for his journalism," Jacobsen continued. "Instead, authorities are using the very real threat of deportation to remove a reporter from the country simply for doing his job and covering the news."
Tim Richardson, journalism and disinformation program director at PEN America, similarly said that "if carried out, this ruling would mark a dangerous moment for press freedom, with the United States—long considered a beacon for free speech—moving to deport a journalist in direct retaliation for his reporting."
"This mirrors the tactics of authoritarian governments the US has long condemned and sends a chilling message to reporters everywhere, especially those covering vulnerable communities or government abuses of power," he added. "We urge the court to reconsider and to allow Mario Guevara to remain in the country and continue his reporting free from fear of deportation or retaliation."
US President Donald Trump campaigned on the promise of mass deportations, and since returning to power in January, his administration has sought to deliver on that. On Friday, Free Press senior counsel Nora Benavidez warned, "Deportation without due process—that would be the new normal set by Mario Guevara's removal from the United States."
"Horrific and lawless, this is the environment the Trump administration created to promote a singular approved narrative, remove critical news coverage for communities, and chill journalists' freedom should they dare hold power to account," she said. "Mr. Guevara's case is happening live, with breaking updates occurring under a sealed case shrouded in secrecy, upon which his removal and ability to report depend."
Ahead of the developments on Friday, Benavidez had tied Guevara's case to the government's effort to deport Mahmoud Khalil over his protests against Israel's US-backed genocide in Gaza, and Disney yanking late-night host Jimmy Kimmel off the air after the Trump administration objected to his comments about the fatal shooting of right-wing activist Charlie Kirk.
"Mahmoud Khalil was just ordered to be deported for his free speech," she said Thursday. "Mario Guevara is in detention for filming police. Jimmy Kimmel taken off air for his speech. TikTok [is] being bought by Trump cronies. All of it moves towards one singular narrative Trump approves. We must resist."
Hundreds of Thousands Mobilize Worldwide to ‘Draw the Line’ for Climate Action and Justice
“From Indonesia and Turkey, to London and South Africa, activists and campaigners are raising the call to draw the line against injustice, pollution, and violence,” said 350.org.
Sep 19, 2025
Ahead of this month's United Nations General Assembly and November's UN Climate Change Conference in Brazil, climate and social justice defenders around the world are taking part in a global week of action culminating in weekend events "to draw the line against injustice, pollution, and violence—and for a future built on peace, clean energy, and fairness."
Hundreds of thousands of people in more than 100 countries are expected to take part in this weekend's demonstrations, which will mark the climax of the "Draw the Line" week of over 600 worldwide actions.
Actions are set to take place in cities including Berlin, Buenos Aires, Dhaka, Istanbul, Jakarta, Johannesburg, London, Manila, Melbourne, Mumbai, Nairobi, New Delhi, New York, Paris, São Paulo, Suva, Tokyo, Wellington, and Belém—where the UN Climate Change Conference, also known as COP30, is scheduled to kick off on November 10.
"United under a call from Indigenous leaders of the Amazon and the Pacific, people across more than 90 countries are joining marches, rallies, strikes, and creative actions to demand an end to fossil fuels, a just transition, and real climate justice," Draw the Line said in a statement.
"The mobilizations highlight escalating climate impacts, rising food and energy costs, deadly floods and heatwaves, and growing insecurity driven by fossil fuels and conflict," the campaign added. "Protesters are also uplifting community-led solutions: renewable energy systems, debt cancellation, fair taxation, and land rights for Indigenous peoples and traditional communities."
From Indonesia and Turkey, to London and South Africa, activists and campaigners are raising the call to ✍️____ Draw the Line against injustice, pollution, and violence, and building the moment for the global weekend of actions starting tomorrow⚡#DrawTheLine
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— 350.org (@350.org) September 18, 2025 at 9:35 AM
According to the climate action group 350.org:
This global moment comes at a critical time when the rich and the powerful countries and corporations continue their colonial and extractivist agenda, while world leaders fail to prevent and stop the genocide taking place in Palestine, Sudan, and Congo, and the governments across the world are veering towards authoritarianism, undoing decades of progress. With every tenth of a degree of global heating, the consequences for people and ecosystems multiply, as seen in the devastating wildfires, typhoons, cloudbursts, floods, and extreme heatwaves already sweeping across continents this year.
“We are drawing the line against deceptive tactics led by rich nations and big corporations to perpetuate fossil fuel dominance and delay the equitable just transition to a fossil-free and healthy planet," explained Lidy Nacpil, coordinator of the Asian Peoples’ Movement on Debt and Development.
"We demand a complete coal phaseout in Asia by 2035 and a rapid and just energy transition out of fossil fuels and to 100% renewable energy before 2050," Nacpil added. "We demand the full delivery of climate finance obligations of the Global North to the Global South for urgent climate action including just transition. This is a crucial part of their reparations for historical and continuing harms to our people.”
The Draw the Line actions coincide with Disrupt Complicity Weekend of solidarity with the Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions (BDS) movement for Palestinian rights and against Israel's genocide, forced famine, apartheid, occupation, ethnic cleansing, and settler colonization in Palestine.
Read the full statement: bdsmovement.net/news/disrupt...
[image or embed]
— BDS movement (@bdsmovement.bsky.social) August 28, 2025 at 4:38 AM
“In the current, most depraved, induced starvation phase of the US-Israeli livestreamed genocide against... Palestinians in the Gaza ghetto, Palestinian civil society stands united in calling on people of conscience and grassroots movements for racial, economic, social, climate, and gender justice worldwide to help us build a critical mass of people power to end state, corporate, and institutional complicity with Israel’s regime of settler-colonial apartheid and genocide, particularly through effective BDS actions and pressure," BDS movement co-founder Omar Barghouti said in a statement this week.
"We are not begging for charity but calling for true solidarity, and that begins with doing no harm to our liberation struggle, at the very least, as a profound moral and legal obligation," he added.
The Draw the Line actions come as the world is on track to overshoot the best-case 1.5°C warming target established under the landmark Paris climate agreement. Experts argue that staying below that limit significantly reduces the likelihood of catastrophic weather events, protects vulnerable ecosystems, lowers the risk of devastating food and water insecurity, and curbs climate-related economic harms.
Not only is the planet on track to exceed the 1.5°C target, a key United Nations climate report published last October warned that the world is on course for between 2.6-3.1°C of "catastrophic" heating over the next century, unless urgent action is taken to dramatically slash greenhouse gas emissions by more than half within the next decade.
‘Betrayal’: Progressives Pounce as Trump Official Says Raising Retirement Age ‘Being Considered’
“Republicans gave away trillions in tax cuts for the wealthy,” said US Sen. Ed Markey. “Now they are asking Americans to work longer. We won’t stand for it.”
Sep 19, 2025
Trump-appointed Social Security Administration Commissioner Frank Bisignano on Friday drew immediate fire from many progressives after he said raising the retirement age for American workers was on the table.
During an interview on Fox Business, host Maria Bartiromo asked Bisignano if he would "consider raising the retirement age" to shore up Social Security's finances.
"I think everything's being considered," he replied.
He said that he would need Congress' help to officially raise the retirement age and acknowledged, "That will take a while," before adding, "But we have plenty of time."
Bartiromo: Would you consider raising the retirement age?
Social Security Administration Commissioner Bisignano: I think everything will be considered pic.twitter.com/kqfMm5Prif
— Acyn (@Acyn) September 19, 2025
Advocacy organization Social Security Works immediately pounced on Bisignano's statement, which it noted contradicted statements made by President Donald Trump during the 2024 election campaign.
"That's a betrayal of Trump's campaign promise to protect Social Security," the organization said in a social media post. "Raising the retirement age by a year translates to a 7% Social Security benefit cut. Forcing us to work longer, for smaller checks, and a shorter retirement is unconscionable!"
In fact, as flagged by former Biden White House Senior Deputy Press Secretary Andrew Bates, Trump said in 2024 that "I will not cut one penny from Social Security or Medicaid and I will not raise the retirement age by one day."
Former US Labor Secretary Robert Reich also rebuked Bisignano for floating a retirement age increase, and he proposed an alternative way to improve Social Security's fiscal health.
"A worker making $50,000 a year contributes to Social Security on 100% of their income," he wrote. "A CEO making $20 million a year contributes to Social Security on less than 1% of their income. Instead of raising the retirement age, we should scrap the Social Security tax cap."
Sen. Ed Markey (D-Mass.) noted that Bisignano's call to potentially raise the retirement age came just months after Republicans passed massive tax cuts through the One Big Beautiful Bill Act that disproportionately benefited the wealthiest Americans.
"Republicans gave away trillions in tax cuts for the wealthy," he said. "Now they are asking Americans to work longer. We won’t stand for it."
The social media account for United Auto Workers delivered a pithy two-word response to Bisignano: "Hell no!"
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