The White House has become increasingly frustrated with Attorney General Merrick Garland in the wake of the Department of Justice (DOJ) special counsel report on President Joe Biden’s retention of classified documents, Politico reported on Friday.
Special counsel Robert Hur’s report concluded on Thursday that Biden “willfully” retained classified documents but recommended against pursuing charges against the president because he would present himself to a jury as a “well-meaning, elderly man with a poor memory.”
Biden and the White House feel Hur was out of line in making such remarks and is casting blame on Garland for not doing enough to control and curb Hur in his investigation, two people close to the president anonymously told Politico so they could speak freely.
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Garland appointed Hur in January 2023 to investigate Biden’s retention of classified information in various locations, including his Delaware home.
The White House believes Garland should have stepped in and edited Hur’s findings in his report, specifically sections related to Biden’s mental fitness, the two people told Politico.
Biden’s senior aides believe it is unlikely the president will keep Garland around in a hypothetical second term, the two people told Politico.
“This has been building for a while,” one of those people told Politico. “No one is happy.”
Biden has had issues with Garland before; the president last year privately bemoaned how long the DOJ investigation into his son, Hunter Biden, was taking, fearing that it might send him back into addiction, the two individuals told Politico. Biden told his aides that he believed Garland was giving into external pressure in appointing a special counsel to investigate his son.
Read: U.S. AG Merrick Garland Urges ‘Speedy Trial’ For Trump As 2024 Election Nears
Biden has also been frustrated that Garland waited too long to open the investigation into former President Donald Trump’s alleged election interference on Jan. 6, believing that had it been conducted sooner, the case may already be at the trial stage or closed completely, according to Politico. Biden is likely to face off against Trump in November’s presidential elections.
However, had Garland made edits to the special counsel’s reports, he would have had to explain why he had done so to Congress, a former senior DOJ official told Politico; Biden also had executive authority to alter Hur’s report but chose not to do so. Many Democrat operatives still believe Garland is to blame, however.
“What Democrats do is they bend over backwards not to look partisan, and then they end up hiring people that are partisan but in the other direction,” an anonymous Biden donor told Politico. “There’s no question in my mind that the villain here is Merrick Garland.”
The White House and DOJ did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
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