Two Presidents, Two Special Counsels Merrick Garland can’t escape deciding how to handle Biden’s classified document stash.
Hear that quacking sound from Washington? It’s Attorney General Merrick Garland’s latest duck. Faced with news that classified documents were recently found not only in a private office of President Biden’s but also his Delaware home, including in the garage, Mr. Garland on Thursday named another special counsel.
“I strongly believe that the normal processes of this department can handle all investigations with integrity,” Mr. Garland said. “But under the regulations, the extraordinary circumstances here require the appointment of a special counsel.” He claimed this would make clear the Justice Department’s “commitment to both independence and accountability.” The new special counsel is Robert Hur, who clerked for Chief Justice William Rehnquist before starting a career as a federal prosecutor.
To repeat what we said when Mr. Garland appointed Jack Smith as special counsel to investigate President Trump, including Mr. Trump’s Mar-a-Lago document hoard, the political insulation being sought here is a matter of mere perception. Whatever Mr. Hur finds out about how classified material wound up in Mr. Biden’s garage next to his Corvette, Mr. Garland shoulders the responsibility for the investigation, including deciding how to conclude it.
“My Corvette’s in a locked garage, OK? So it’s not like they’re sitting out on the street,” Mr. Biden said Thursday. Rest easy, America: The First Vette is safe and sound. As for the classified papers from his time as Vice President, locked or not, Mr. Biden’s garage isn’t a secure place where they’re supposed to be kept. Additional classified material, Mr. Biden also said, was recently found in his personal library. Still, he argued: “People know, I take classified documents and classified material seriously.”
Apparently not as seriously as the feds usually do. Last year a former civilian employee of the Pentagon was sentenced to three months in prison for taking classified documents to her hotel room, as well as keeping handwritten notes of meetings that included classified details. That information was categorized as Confidential and Secret. To compare, Mr. Biden and Mr. Trump each reportedly held on to documents that were rated as more sensitive than Top Secret.
Prosecutions for mishandling the nation’s secrets aren’t rare, though many of them involve reams of materials or high risk of exposure. Former CIA Director John Deutch was set to plead guilty to a misdemeanor charge of mishandling classified information on a computer at his home. President Clinton pardoned him first.
Although Mr. Trump was inexplicably mulish about handing over his files, on current evidence there’s no good case for putting a President in prison—much less making two Presidents into cellmates—for improperly retaining materials from recent public office. When Mr. Trump was out on a limb by himself, this point was less obvious to some of our media competitors.
Now that Mr. Biden faces a similar inquiry, perhaps they see how ridiculous it is to have the Justice Department investigating both the current and former President who are running against each other for the same office in 2024. Rather than pass the buck to special counsels, Mr. Garland would be wiser to help the country by seeking a better way out.
The Justice Department can clarify the facts, and explain whether each President handled documents recklessly in ways that could have harmed national security. Barring some explosive revelation, however, Mr. Garland can then close both cases, giving voters their say next year when Mr. Trump and Mr. Biden each expect to be on the ballot.
Appeared in the January 13, 2023, print edition as ‘Two Presidents, Two Special Counsels’.
Comments are closed.
