Special investigation into Biden’s handling of classified docs is DONE – but witnesses are not being allowed to review it sparking fears in White House the report will be damning for 81-year-old president

An investigation into President Joe Biden’s handling of classified documents has been completed, but witnesses are not allowed to see the report.

The Justice Department expects to release the report to Congress and the public soon, Attorney General Merrick Garland told lawmakers in a letter on Wednesday.

Garland did not provide details on the conclusions of special counsel Robert Hur’s report, but said he was committed to making as much of the document public as possible once the White House completes an investigation into possible concerns about executive privilege.

The process is expected to be completed by the end of the week, said Ian Sams, a spokesman for the White House office.

However, witnesses who worked on the case and asked Hur to allow them to view the documents before publication had their requests denied, ABC News reported.

The reluctance to allow anyone to review the report has fueled fears in the White House that its contents could be damning to the president,81.

However, witnesses who contributed to the investigation said they had requested to see it before publication

Lawyer Michael Bromwich said he has repeatedly suggested to Hur’s team that he could lack the “correct factual context” unless his clients are allowed to review the case. However, the lawyer claims that his requests have fallen on deaf ears.

The yearlong investigation focused on Biden’s unlawful retention of classified documents from his time as a U.S. senator and as vice president.

Sensitive data was found at his home in Delaware and at a private office he used between his service in the Obama administration and his presidency.

The investigation’s outcome comes in a pivotal year for the president as he seeks reelection in a deeply polarized political climate.

While the outcome of the investigation is expected to lift a legal cloud over Biden, criticism of his handling of classified documents could weaken his ability to attack Donald Trump — his presumptive opponent in November — over a pending indictment charging the former president accused of hoarding top secret files. at his Mar-a-Lago estate and obstructing the FBI’s efforts to get them back.

Trump and other Republicans are likely to question the legitimacy of the investigation, noting that it was launched by Biden’s Justice Department.

But Garland sought to shield the department from claims of bias and conflict of interest by appointing Hur, a former U.S. attorney for Maryland during the Trump administration, to handle the Biden investigation last year and appointing another special prosecutor, Jack Smith, appointed to supervise. investigations into Trump.

Special counsel Robert Hur is leading the investigation and is said to have rejected requests from witnesses who wanted to review the report before it was released

President Joe Biden arrives at John F. Kennedy International Airport in New York on Wednesday, February 7, 2024, to travel to Manhattan to attend fundraisers

Documents with classified markings from Biden’s time as vice president were found in his Wilmington home after a 13-hour FBI search

While the Trump investigation resulted in dozens of charges against the ex-president last year, the outcome of the Biden investigation is expected to be different.

Justice Department policy prohibits charges against a sitting president and, unlike the Trump investigation, no evidence has emerged to suggest that Biden engaged in similar conduct or that he deliberately withheld data that he shouldn’t have.

But the White House response to the discovery of classified documents early last year was delayed and incomplete.

The White House did not make the Justice Department’s investigation public until January 2023, when it acknowledged the discovery two months earlier of a “small number” of classified documents by Biden’s lawyers as they opened an office at the Penn Biden Center, a think tank , locks. affiliated with the Ivy League school.

Biden has said he was surprised by the initial treasure his lawyers discovered.

The FBI then conducted a thirteen-hour top-to-bottom sweep of his home in Wilmington, Delaware, where agents found documents with classified marks from his time as vice president and senator and seized some of his handwritten notes.

Biden’s personal attorneys also revealed that they found a document with classified markings while searching the Wilmington property, but said they found no others during a separate inspection of his Rehoboth Beach home.

The investigation’s looming conclusion was foretold last fall when Biden sat down with Hur’s team for a voluntary interview at the White House. Interviews with important topics in a study often take place towards the end.

Department of Justice regulations require that Congress be notified of any investigative steps or proposed actions by a special counsel that are rejected by Department leadership. “There were no such actions,” Garland wrote.