Why special counsel reports often paint a negative picture of the president, even if no charges have been filed

CNN
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Special Counsel Robert Hur’s report on President Joe Biden’s mishandling of classified information has reignited the controversy surrounding the special counsel and his investigation report. The special prosecutor is designed to release findings, including negative ones, even if prosecutors decline to file charges.

The Justice Department said Attorney General Merrick Garland received Mr. Hur’s final report on Monday and will immediately review the president’s conduct, which includes language that a jury could consider him to be an “indigent elderly person.” I was faced with the question of how to deal with the harsh evaluations I received. memory. ”

Mr. Garland and other senior Justice Department officials had the option of seeking to remove some of the characterizations in Mr. Heo’s report that the White House claimed were unfair and false.

But the implications of doing so are clear. Mr. Garland would have to report to Congress the information he sought to remove, which would immediately undermine the independence of the investigation and raise further questions of partisanship.

In any case, the deleted information will likely be made public eventually, Justice Department officials say.

The conclusion of the investigation means new decisions will soon be made to the Justice Department and the White House about what to do with audio recordings of the president’s interview with Xu last October, his 2017 conversation with a ghostwriter, and other investigation materials. That will happen. The special counsel’s office recorded a meeting with Mr. Biden, two people familiar with the matter said.

The special counsel’s report, released Thursday, immediately fueled attacks on the president over his age, but Biden already has a strong bond with voters as he faces a potential re-election challenge against former President Donald Trump in November. It was a painful theme that had become one of the challenges faced by the government.

Whether or not it results in an indictment, the special counsel has gone from Special Counsel Ken Starr’s investigation into former President Bill Clinton to Robert Mueller’s investigation into Trump to now Jack Smith’s twin indictments against Trump. The debate has been fraught with controversy for decades.

Biden’s lawyers accused Ho of violating Justice Department rules that generally prohibit releasing negative information about people under investigation unless they have been charged with a crime.

Former Attorney General Eric Holder joined in the criticism, posting on social media platform . Had this report been subjected to the normal review by the Department of Justice, these statements would undoubtedly have been removed. ”

But current and former officials said Ho’s detailed explanation for not indicting Biden was within Justice Department guidelines for special counsel.

“What he wrote was related to his decision not to press charges,” one official said.

Ty Cobb, Trump’s former White House lawyer during the Mueller investigation, said the reason Hur cited for not indicting Biden was that “particularly under current Justice Department policy, the president has been in the office for almost two years. No charges will be filed and it will likely be another year or more before the case goes to trial.”

But Cobb added, “I’d be surprised unless the president’s lawyers make a case for weakness on the part of the president.” [to the special counsel’s office], that there was very detailed content. ”

The Justice Department and Mr. Xu’s office declined to comment.

White House Counsel Ian Sams said at a briefing on Friday that he was open to requesting that the government release the investigation records pending a review of the classified information.

The White House can also claim executive privilege over investigative materials, but the president declined to claim privilege over the report.