Attorney General Merrick Garland dismissed criticism that the Justice Department is treating Donald Trump and Joe Biden differently when it comes to investigating their handling of classified documents.
(Bloomberg) — Attorney General Merrick Garland dismissed criticism that the Justice Department is treating Donald Trump and Joe Biden differently when it comes to investigating their handling of classified documents.
Garland was asked by reporters Monday about allegations the department has treated former President Trump harsher than President Biden in the probe of classified materials found at their homes, and if he has any regrets about appointing special counsels to over see each investigation.
“The department has a set of norms and practices,” Garland said. “We do not have different rules for Democrats or Republicans, different rules for the powerful or the powerless, different rules for the rich or the poor.”
“We apply the facts and the law in each case in a neutral, nonpartisan manner,” he added.
The Justice Department found six items containing classified information during a Friday search of Biden’s home in Wilmington, Delaware, that was conducted in coordination with the president’s attorneys. The search was done by FBI agents, according to people familiar with it. The agency’s involvement was not disclosed by the White House or Biden’s personal legal team in their statements.
FBI agents searched Trump’s Mar-a-Lago estate in Florida in August after getting a search warrant from a federal judge. Trump and his supporters have questioned the treatment Biden received in the probe but the White House has maintained the cases are very different and they have cooperated with authorities.
Last week, Garland announced the appointment of a special counsel to investigate the discovery of the classified documents at a think tank office Biden used after serving as vice president, as well as in two areas of his house in Wilmington, Delaware.
Garland had previously appointed a special counsel to investigate the discovery of classified documents at Trump’s home, and questions about whether he or his associates deliberately misled government officials seeking their return.
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