It’s easy to forget, but President Joe Biden has spent the year facing a special counsel investigation. In January, the Delaware Democrat conceded that documents with classified markings were uncovered at his personal home and at an office he used after he was vice president, and Attorney General Merrick Garland appointed Robert Hur, a U.S. attorney in the Trump administration, to take a closer look.
The White House and its Democratic allies didn’t exactly respond with anxiety. Biden volunteered the disclosure; he returned what he had; the National Archives didn’t even know the papers were missing; and the incumbent president vowed to cooperate to resolve the matter.
The idea that Biden knowingly, and with deliberate intent, took and hid a small number of sensitive documents was, and remains, far-fetched. What’s more, this isn’t a situation in which he knowingly defied a federal subpoena — unlike a certain someone.
Nevertheless, the probe isn’t yet over, though it appears to be reaching its endpoint. NBC News reported:
President Joe Biden was interviewed as part of the investigation into his handling of classified documents being led by special counsel Robert Hur, the White House said. A person familiar with the matter said Hur personally led the interview. In a statement Monday night, White House spokesman Ian Sams said the voluntary interview was conducted over two days, Sunday and Monday.
“As we have said from the beginning, the President and the White House are cooperating with this investigation, and as it has been appropriate, we have provided relevant updates publicly, being as transparent as we can consistent with protecting and preserving the integrity of the investigation,” Sams said.
This news comes two weeks after The New York Times reported that Hur and his team have also interviewed “many of Mr. Biden’s closest aides and advisers,” including Secretary of State Antony Blinken.
Barb McQuade, a former federal prosecutor and an MSNBC legal analyst, noted via social media that the sit-down meetings between Hur and Biden should generally be seen as the “last step” in the investigation. The University of Michigan law professor added that there will be some analysis and a final report, with an announcement on the results likely “in 30 to 60 days.”
Time will tell what, if anything, comes of this — Biden’s detractors probably shouldn’t get their hopes up — but it’s worth pausing to appreciate the differences between how this president dealt with a special counsel investigation as compared to his immediate predecessor. While in office, Donald Trump also faced a probe from a special counsel, which led the Republican to publicly trash Robert Mueller, his team, his investigation, and the justice system. Trump told members of his team that he wanted to fire Mueller, and the special counsel’s office documented multiple instances in which the then-president obstructed the process. As for the idea of Trump sitting down with Mueller, the then-president spent months insisting he was eager to participate in such an interview, but he ultimately agreed only to answer questions in writing. I’m trying to imagine what the political world’s response would be if Biden responded to the Hur probe the way Trump responded to the Mueller probe.
Steve Benen is a producer for "The Rachel Maddow Show," the editor of MaddowBlog and an MS NOW political contributor. He's also the bestselling author of "Ministry of Truth: Democracy, Reality, and the Republicans' War on the Recent Past."
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