Team Joe Biden is very worried about the special counsel’s report on his handling of classified documents in this election. Specifically, they are worried that the details will be embarrassing and that the report will come with embarrassing photos that will create a firestorm.
They also worry that Trump will use the potential report to try to draw equivalency between this and the case against him.
Here’s more from Axios:
President Biden’s team is concerned that special counsel Robert Hur’s investigation into Biden’s handling of classified documents will hurt his re-election campaign.
Biden aides don’t expect criminal charges in the case, but they believe Hur’s report will include embarrassing details — possibly with photos — on how Biden stored documents.
In late 2022, Obama-era classified documents were discovered in Biden’s garage at his home in Delaware and in a private office he used.
Biden aides believe that Donald Trump, Biden’s likely foe in November, will try to use Hur’s report to create equivalency with the felony charges Trump faces related to his keeping classified documents after his presidency.
Biden aides believe Hur’s probe is done and that his final report could come any time — even as soon as this week — but the final timing is unclear.
Hur, a former U.S. attorney nominated by Trump in 2017 and a former clerk for conservative Chief Justice William Rehnquist, is required to write a report about the investigation.
Last fall, Garland said on “60 Minutes” that he would make public a special counsel’s report on Hunter Biden, the president’s son, “to the extent permissible under the law” to “explain [the] … decisions to prosecute or not prosecute, and their strategic decisions along the way.”
He added: “Usually, the special counsels have testified at the end of their reports, and I expect that that will be the case here.”
The answer suggested that Garland also would release Hur’s report, but a Justice Department spokesperson said Garland hasn’t committed to that.
Even if there are no criminal charges, Biden aides expect the report’s details to be politically damaging.
Biden has defended storing documents from his vice presidency in his garage, saying: “By the way, my Corvette is in a locked garage, so it’s not like they’re sitting out on the street.”
Any photos of those storage practices could cause a political storm similar to what happened after the release of photos of Trump storing documents at Mar-a-Lago, including in a bathroom.
Trump, who resisted the U.S. government’s efforts to retrieve the documents, faces 40 criminal counts in the case including obstruction of justice and willful retention of national defense information.
Garland’s appointment of Hur added to the tension between Biden’s team and Garland that’s been fueled by Garland’s appointment of the special counsel investigating Hunter Biden, feelings that Garland was too slow to investigate Trump over Jan. 6, and other frustrations.
Anthony Coley, a former senior adviser to Garland, caught the Biden team’s attention recently when he wrote that Biden and those in his orbit had no one to blame but themselves for Garland’s appointment of a special counsel.
Coley said Biden’s team wasn’t initially transparent about the documents and put Garland in a no-win situation.
What’s he got to worry about? Garland will likely do him a favor and won’t even release the report. But even if he does the media will cover for him like they did in 2020. He’s fine.