U.S.

Department of Justice

Office of Legislative Affairs

Office of the Assistant Attorney General Washington, DC 20530

The Honorable Jim Jordan

Chairman
Committee on the Judiciary
U.S. House of Representatives
Washington, DC 20515

The Honorable Mike Johnson

U.S. House of Representatives
Washington, DC 20515

Dear Representatives Jordan and Johnson:

We are in receipt of your letter dated January 13, 2023, to the Department of Justice
(Department) regarding the Department’s investigation of the possible unauthorized removal and
retention of classified documents or other records discovered at the Penn Biden Center for
Diplomacy and Global Engagement and the President’s Wilmington, Delaware private residence.
The Attorney General has appointed a Special Counsel to investigate this matter.

Your letter expresses an interest in learning when the Department became aware that
documents had been discovered and the sequence of events that followed. In connection with
appointing a Special Counsel, the Attorney General has provided significant information about
how the matter came into the Department, the steps the Department took to investigate, and his
appointment decision. 1

On the evening of Friday, November 4, 2022, the National Archives Office of Inspector
General contacted a prosecutor at the Department regarding the discovery of documents bearing
classification markings that were identified at the office of the Penn Biden Center for Diplomacy
and Global Engagement, located in Washington, D.C. On Wednesday, November 9, the FBI
commenced an assessment, consistent with standard protocols, to understand whether classified
information had been mishandled in violation of federal law. On November 14, 2022, pursuant to
Section 600.2(b) of the Special Counsel regulations, Attorney General Garland directed U.S.
Attorney John R. Lausch, Jr. to conduct an initial investigation to inform the Attorney General’s
decision on whether to appoint a Special Counsel. On January 5, 2023, Mr. Lausch
recommended to the Attorney General that further investigation by a Special Counsel was

1
Statement of Attorney General Merrick B. Garland, Jan. 12, 2023; Letter from Attorney General Merrick B.
Garland to Sens. Richard J. Durbin and Charles E. Grassley and Reps. Jim Jordan and Jerrold L. Nadler, Jan. 12,
2023.
The Honorable Jim Jordan
The Honorable Mike Johnson
Page 2

warranted. Based on Mr. Lausch’s initial investigation and recommendation, the Attorney
General appointed Robert K. Hur to serve as Special Counsel on January 12, 2023. Consistent
with the Justice Manual and applicable regulations, the Department’s first public disclosures
regarding this matter occurred when the Attorney General announced the appointment of the
Special Counsel. 2 The Department’s notification to Congress, Attorney General’s appointment
order, and the Attorney General’s statement on the appointment are enclosed.

Your letter also requests non-public information that is central to the ongoing Special
Counsel investigation. The Department’s longstanding policy is to maintain the confidentiality of
such information regarding open matters. 3 This policy protects the American people’s interest in
the evenhanded, dispassionate, and effective administration of justice. Disclosing non-public
information about ongoing investigations could violate statutory requirements or court orders,
reveal road maps of our investigations, and interfere with the Department’s ability to gather
facts, interview witnesses, and bring criminal prosecutions where warranted. 4 Maintaining
confidentiality also safeguards the legal rights, personal safety, and privacy interests of
individuals implicated by, or who assist in, our investigations.

Further, “[a]lthough Congress has a clearly legitimate interest in determining how the
Department enforces statutes, Congressional inquiries during the pendency of a matter pose an
inherent threat to the integrity of the Department’s law enforcement and litigation functions.” 5
Disclosures to Congress about active investigations risk jeopardizing those investigations and
creating the appearance that Congress may be exerting improper political pressure or attempting
to influence Department decisions in certain cases. Judgments about whether and how to pursue
a matter are, and must remain, the exclusive responsibility of the Department. In his statement
appointing the Special Counsel, the Attorney General said, “This appointment underscores for
the public the Department’s commitment to both independence and accountability in particularly
sensitive matters, and to making decisions indisputably guided only by the facts and the law.”
The Department’s policies regarding disclosures of information regarding open investigations
serve the same ends.

2
See 28 C.F.R. § 600.9(a); see also Justice Manual § 1-7.400, Disclosure of Information Concerning Ongoing
Criminal, Civil, or Administrative Investigations (“DOJ generally will not confirm the existence of or otherwise
comment about ongoing investigations.”).
3
See, e.g., Letter from Assistant Attorney General Robert Raben to Chairman John Linder, Jan. 27, 2000 (“Linder
Letter”), available at https://www.justice.gov/file/1080046/download; Response to Congressional Requests for
Information Regarding Decisions Made Under the Independent Counsel Act, 10 Op. O.L.C. 68, 76 (1986) (“[T]he
policy of the Executive Branch throughout our Nation’s history has generally been to decline to provide committees
of Congress with access to, or copies of, open law enforcement files except in extraordinary circumstances.”);
Position of the Executive Department Regarding Investigative Reports, 40 Op. Att’y Gen. 45, 46 (1941) (“It is the
position of this Department, restated now with the approval of and at the direction of the President, that all
investigative reports are confidential documents of the executive department of the Government, to aid in the duty
laid upon the President by the Constitution to ‘take care that the laws be faithfully executed,’ and that congressional
or public access to them would not be in the public interest.”). See also Justice Manual §§ 1-7.000, et seq.,
Confidentiality and Media Contacts Policy; 1-8.200, Communications with Congress; 1-8.210, Responding to
Congressional Requests.
4
See, e.g., Linder Letter at 3-5; Fed. R. Crim. P. 6(e).
5
Linder Letter at 3.
The Honorable Jim Jordan
The Honorable Mike Johnson
Page 3

Matters run by a Special Counsel are subject to specific regulations regarding their
appointment, independence, and communications to Congress. A Special Counsel “shall not be
subject to the day-to-day supervision of any official of the Department.” 6 In addition, the Special
Counsel regulations establish procedures for disclosing certain information to Congress at the
onset and conclusion of a Special Counsel investigation, including an explanation of any
instances in which the Attorney General concluded that a proposed action by the Special Counsel
should not be pursued because it was inappropriate or unwarranted. 7 These regulations govern
the Department’s conduct in all Special Counsel investigations and will continue to govern our
disclosures in this matter.

We hope this information is helpful. Please do not hesitate to contact this office if we
may provide additional assistance regarding this or any other matter.

Sincerely,
Digitally signed
CARLOS by CARLOS
URIARTE
URIARTE Date: 2023.01.30
08:56:34 -05'00'

Carlos Felipe Uriarte

Assistant Attorney General

Enclosures

cc:

The Honorable Jerrold L. Nadler

Ranking Member
Committee on the Judiciary
U.S. House of Representatives
Washington, DC 20515

6
28 C.F.R. § 600.7(b).
7
28 C.F.R. § 600.9(a), (c).