Robert K. Hur, the special counsel investigating the mishandling of documents retained by President Biden’s vice presidency, is expected to release his report soon, according to people familiar with the situation.
The imminent release of the report suggests Mr Hur is nearing the end of an investigation which began just over a year ago.
He is expected to criticize Mr. Biden and his aides for improper record keeping and storage, according to people in Mr. Biden’s orbit, who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss the matter. But those people have long believed he would not be charged with any crime, judging by the lines of inquiry prosecutors have pursued in their interviews with witnesses and the president’s cooperation with investigators.
Most of Mr. Hur’s work was completed in the final days of 2023 and appears to have been completed after Mr. Biden met with investigators in October, these people said. He also interviewed several longtime advisers in the Biden administration, including former chief of staff Ron Klain, Secretary of State Antony J. Blinken, national security adviser Jake Sullivan and his adviser Steve Ricchetti.
Former President Donald J. Trump, who was indicted over the summer for obstructing government efforts to retrieve classified material at his Florida resort, is likely to use the report to downplay his own legal troubles — and claim the Justice Department has targeted him politically by leaving Mr. Biden to escape punishment.
But Mr. Hur’s investigation does not appear to be comparable in scope or seriousness to Mr. Trump’s retention of sensitive government documents.
Mr. Biden’s lawyers immediately notified the National Archives and Records Administration when they discovered a cache of classified documents in late 2022 when they closed a Washington office he had occupied since leaving the vice presidency in 2017. They have since been working with the Department of Justice and gave the FBI access to his home in Wilmington, Del., where they discovered more material.
Instead, Mr. Trump repeatedly resisted requests from the National Archives, which is responsible for storing sensitive White House documents, initially handing over only a portion of what he had taken when he left office in January 2021. He has not fully responded to a subpoena. to return the balance and eventually had his home and office searched by FBI agents with a warrant.
Last January, Attorney General Merrick B. Garland appointed Mr. Hurr, a veteran prosecutor who worked in the Trump administration, to look into “the possible unauthorized removal and retention of classified documents or other records discovered” after Mr. Biden from the Obama administration.
With the exception of President Barack Obama, every occupant of the Oval Office since Watergate has faced a special counsel investigating him or members of his staff, sometimes on relatively narrow issues but other times on matters that have grown to the threat of impeachment.
