Republicans call for US attorney general to name special counsel in tit-for-tat over Biden classified documents

Republican senators are demanding that Attorney General Merrick Garland name a special prosecutor to investigate how Obama-era documents bearing classification markings ended up in two locations linked to President Joe Biden.

On Wednesday, multiple news outlets reported that Mr Biden’s legal team had discovered at least one document bearing classification markings at a location the president’s attorneys were searching to follow up on the 2 November discovery of roughly a dozen similar documents at a Washington DC think tank office used by the president during his time out of government service.

According to Special Counsel to the President Richard Sauber, both discoveries were made by Mr Biden’s personal attorneys, who immediately notified the National Archives and Records Administration so archivists could take possession of the records, which reportedly date back to Mr Biden’s second term as vice president under Barack Obama.

“The discovery of these documents was made by the President’s attorneys. The documents were not the subject of any previous request or inquiry by the Archives. Since that discovery, the President’s personal attorneys have cooperated with the Archives and the Department of Justice in a process to ensure that any Obama-Biden Administration records are appropriately in the possession of the Archives,” Mr Sauber said in a statement on Tuesday.

The discovery of documents with classification markings at Mr Biden’s former office comes as the Department of Justice is considering whether to charge Mr Biden’s predecessor, Donald Trump, over his alleged unlawful retention of national defence information at his Palm Beach, Florida club and residence.

That probe is being overseen by Jack Smith, a special prosecutor named by Attorney General Merrick Garland shortly after the November midterm election to supervise the Trump documents probe and the department’s investigation into the January 6 attack on the Capitol.

Though Mr Garland has tasked a Trump-appointed federal prosecutor in Illinois with overseeing a review of how the Obama-era records ended up in Mr Biden’s space, Senator Lindsey Graham said on Wednesday that Mr Garland should name a special prosecutor to look into the Biden matter as well.

“Garland, if you’re listening, if you thought it was necessary to appoint a special counsel regarding President Trump, then you need to do the exact same thing regarding President Biden when it comes to handling classified information,” said the South Carolina Republican, who added conservatives are “completely disgusted with the standard that exists in America when it comes to conservatives and everybody else”.

Another Senate Republican, Josh Hawley of Missouri, penned a letter to Mr Garland expressing outrage because Mr Biden’s home has not been searched by the FBI.

“In President Trump’s case, that retention [of documents] triggered an unprecedented raid on the home of a former president, rationalized with a thicket of partisan doublespeak. President Biden has not experienced anything remotely similar,” he said.

Mr Hawley’s letter failed to note that in Mr Biden’s case, his lawyers immediately notified the Archives of their discovery, while Mr Trump has resisted turning over government-owned records he took before the end of his term and has even gone so far as to demand their return.