Special counsel appointed to review classified documents tied to Biden

GUYS. SEVERE WEATHER ACROSS THE COUNTRY, MICHELLE THANK YOU TO WASHINGTON AND THE LATEST ON THE INVESTIGATION INTO CLASSIFIED MARK, DOCUMENTS CONNECTED TO PRESIDENT BIDEN THAT HAVE NOW BEEN FOUND IN TWO TWO DIFFERENT LOCATIONS. US ATTORNEY GENERAL MERRICK GARLAND APPOINTED A SPECIAL COUNSEL TO REVIEW THE CLASSIFIED MATERIAL FOUND IN BIDEN’S DELAWARE HOME AND THE WASHINGTON OFFICE HE USED AFTER LEAVING THE OBAMA WHITE HOUSE. FIRST BATCH OF DOCUMENTS WERE FOUND LAST NOVEMBER BEFORE THE MIDTERM ELECTION, BUT THE DISCOVERY WASN’T MADE PUBLIC UNTIL THIS WEEK. THOSE DOCUMENTS ARE UNDER REVIEW BY THE JUSTICE DEPARTMENT. GARLAND DISCUSSED THE APPOINTMENT

YESTERDAY WITH REPORTERS. I SIGNED AN ORDER APPOINTING ROBERT HER A SPECIAL COUNSEL FOR THE MATTER. I’VE JUST DESCRIBED THE DOCUMENT AUTHORIZES HIM TO INVESTIGATE WHETHER ANY PERSON OR ENTITY VIOLATED THE LAW IN CONNECTION WITH THIS MATTER. AND FOR THE LATEST, LET’S BRING IN NBC NEWS CORRESPONDENT JULIA AINSLEY AND WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT CAROL LEE. GOOD MORNING TO YOU BOTH. CAROL LET’S START WITH YOU. THE PRESIDENT SPOKE ABOUT THE DOCUMENTS YESTERDAY FIELDED A LOT OF QUESTIONS FROM REPORTERS . WHAT DO WE KNOW ABOUT THEM? AND WHAT DID HE SAY? WELL WHAT WE KNOW SO FAR IS ACTUALLY

VERY LITTLE. WE KNOW WHERE THEY WERE FOUND. WE KNOW THERE WERE THREE DIFFERENT OCCASIONS IN WHICH THE PRESIDENT LEGAL TEAM DISCOVERED THESE DOCUMENTS. WE THE WHITE HOUSE COUNSEL’S

OFFICE SAYS THAT THERE’S A SMALL NUMBER OF DOCUMENTS THAT WERE FOUND AT THE PRESIDENT’S HOME AND WILMINGTON’S DELAWARE. WE KNOW FROM OUR OWN REPORTING THAT THE DOCUMENTS THAT WERE FOUND ON NOVEMBER 2ND AT THE PRESIDENT’S OFFICE THAT HE HAD AFTER HE LEFT THE VICE PRESIDENCY. THERE WERE FEWER THAN A DOZEN DOCUMENTS THERE, AND NOW WE’RE LEARNING THAT ONE OF THE DOCUMENTS AT THAT OFFICE THAT WAS FOUND IS

LABELED T S S C I SO THAT’S A VERY HIGH CLASSIFICATION THE OTHERS WERE TOLD, WERE NOT AS HIGH OF A CLASSIFICATION. AS FOR WHAT THE PRESIDENT HAS SAID ABOUT THIS WHEN HE WAS ASKED ABOUT THIS YESTERDAY, HE CONTINUED TO SAY THAT HIS WHITE HOUSE AND HIS TEAM WILL FULLY COOPERATE. TAKE A LISTEN. THEY DISCOVERED A SMALL NUMBER OF DOCUMENTS OF CLASSIFIED MARKETS AND STORAGE AREAS AND FILE CABINETS IN MY HOME AND MY, MY, MY PERSONAL LIBRARY. THIS WAS DONE IN THE CASE OF THE BIDEN PENS, AND THAT THIS WAS DONE IN THE CASE OF

THE BIDEN PEN CENTER . THE DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE WAS IMMEDIATELY AS WAS DONE. THE DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE IS IMMEDIATELY NOTIFIED. AND THE LAWYERS ARRANGED FOR THE DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE TO TAKE POSSESSION OF THE DOCUMENT. NOW THE PRESIDENT CONTINUES TO SAY THAT HE TAKES CLASSIFIED INFORMATION VERY SERIOUSLY. AT THE SAME TIME, WE’VE SEEN HIM SORT OF DOWNPLAY THIS INSTEAD. YOU KNOW GAS. THESE DOCUMENTS WERE LOCKED IN A IN A GARAGE NEXT DOOR. PREVENTING IS BETTER AT THIS MOMENT WILL BE 10, BUT IT’S NOT LIKE THEY WERE OUT THERE IN THE STREET. AND AS FOR THE PRESIDENT’S

LEGAL TEAM WE’VE HEARD FROM THE WHITE HOUSE COUNSEL’S OFFICE AFTER THAT SPECIAL COUNCIL WAS NAMED BY THE JUSTICE DEPARTMENT THAT THIS IS SOMETHING THAT THESE DOCUMENTS FOUND UP IN THESE BOXES THAT THE PRESIDENT TOOK AFTER HE LEFT THE OBAMA ADMINISTRATION BY MISTAKE . AND JULIA. THE OTHER BIG HEADLINE YESTERDAY WAS THE APPOINTMENT OF THIS NEW SPECIAL COUNSEL ROBERT, HER FORMER U S ATTORNEY FOR MARYLAND. SO WHAT MORE DO WE KNOW ABOUT HIM AND HIS SELECTION? THAT’S RIGHT. ROBERT HER WAS THE U. S ATTORNEY IN MARYLAND UNDER THE TRUMP ADMINISTRATION. HE WAS A TRUMP PICK. HE

SERVED FROM 2018 UNTIL FEBRUARY. 2021 JUST AS PRESIDENT BIDEN WAS COMING INTO OFFICE. I THINK THAT SUPPORTED CONTEXT HERE BECAUSE MERRICK GARLAND AND THE APPOINTMENT OF A SPECIAL COUNSEL WANTS TO SHOW HE’S NOT PICKING ONE OF HIS OWN HERE. ROBERT HERE HAS A LONG REPUTATION. HE ALSO SERVED AS NUMBER 22 ROD ROSENSTEIN AND HE WAS DEPUTY ATTORNEY GENERAL WHEN HE WAS OVERSEEING SPECIAL COUNSEL ROBERT MUELLER’S INVESTIGATION BECAUSE THEN ATTORNEY GENERAL JEFF SESSIONS HAD RECUSED HIMSELF AND DISAPPOINTMENT IS REALLY FOR GARLAND TO SHOW INDEPENDENT THEORY ALSO SAYS IT’S BECAUSE THE U. S ATTORNEY AND THE NORTHERN

DISTRICT OF ILLINOIS, JOHN LAU HAS IS NOW MOVING ON TO THE PRIVATE SECTOR. HE HAD PREVIOUSLY BEEN OVERSEEING THE PRELIMINARY INVESTIGATION. INTO THESE DOCUMENTS, BUT IN AN EFFORT TO SHOW THE INDEPENDENCE OF THIS INVESTIGATION, AS WELL AS INDEPENDENCE OF THE INVESTIGATION INTO TRUMP’S HANDLING OF CLASSIFIED DOCUMENTS , HE THINKS THE SPECIAL COUNSEL APPOINTMENT IS NECESSARY. HERE’S THE REASONS HE GAVE YESTERDAY. TAKE A LISTEN. DISAPPOINTMENT UNDERSCORES FOR THE PUBLIC THE DEPARTMENT’S COMMITMENT TO BOTH INDEPENDENCE AND ACCOUNTABILITY AND PARTICULARLY SENSITIVE MATTERS. AND TO MAKING DECISIONS INDISPUTABLY GUIDED ONLY BY THE INDISPUTABLY GUIDED ONLY BY THE FACTS AND

THE LAW. SO YOU CAN SEE THERE THERE IS A LOT OF QUESTIONS ABOUT IS THE APPOINTMENT OF A SPECIAL COUNSEL , NECESSARILY MEANING THAT THIS INVESTIGATION HAS HAS GONE UP IN HIS MORE SERIOUS. THERE’S SO MUCH WE DON’T KNOW ABOUT THESE DOCUMENTS OR WHAT MIGHT BE IN THEM, BUT THEY ARE. THE ATTORNEY GENERAL IS CLEARLY SAYING THE REASON FOR THIS IS INDEPENDENCE . WE’RE NOT LEARNING A WHOLE LOT. ABOUT WHAT U S ATTORNEY. LAUCH MIGHT HAVE TOLD MARY GARLAND THAT PROMPTED THE APPOINTMENT OF ROBERT HER. AND CAROL. OBVIOUSLY THE SPOTLIGHT IS ON THESE DOCUMENTS AS

SPECIAL COUNSEL INVESTIGATION WILL NO LONGER WILL NO DOUBT BE DISTRACTION FOR THE WHITE HOUSE . HOW IS THE ADMINISTRATION PREPARING TO HANDLE THIS WHILE STILL TRYING TO MOVE FORWARD WITH THE PRESIDENT’S AGENDA? YEAH, THAT’S A GREAT POINT. IT’S A HUGE DISTRACTION FOR THIS WHITE HOUSE, THE PRESIDENT THAT BY ALL ACCOUNTS, GETTING READY TO ANNOUNCE THAT HE’S RUNNING FOR REELECTION INTO ALONSO 2024 CAMPAIGN, AND THIS IS A HUGE POLITICAL HEADACHE FOR THEM ALSO , YOU KNOW, NOTABLE THAT THERE ARE AIDES TO THE PRESIDENT WHO WORKED FOR HIM AS VICE PRESIDENT AND THOSE CLOSING WEEKS OF HIS

VICE PRESIDENCY, WHO ARE LIKELY TO BE INTERVIEWED. AS PART OF THIS INVESTIGATION. WE KNOW FROM OUR OWN REPORTING WHEN YOU MIKE MEMOLI THAT THERE HAVE ALREADY BEEN BIDEN AIDES WHO WERE INTERVIEWED IN THIS PRELIMINARY REVIEW THAT WAS DONE OF THESE DOCUMENTS, INCLUDING EXECUTIVE ASSISTANT TO THE PRESIDENT, WHO WAS THAT WHEN HE WAS VICE PRESIDENT WHO WORKS AT THE PENTAGON. THERE ARE A NUMBER OF OFFICIALS IN THE WHITE HOUSE WHO ALSO WORKED FOR HIM AS VICE PRESIDENT. AND SO THIS IS SOMETHING THAT’S GOING TO BE A BIG DISTRACTION. WE NOW ALSO HAVE THIS SITUATION WHERE YOU

HAVE THE PRESIDENT’S ONLY DECLARED OPPONENT, FORMER PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP, WHO HAS A SPECIAL COUNSEL, LOOKING INTO HIS HANDLING OF CLASSIFIED INFORMATION AND NOW YOU HAVE THE PRESIDENT WHO HAS HIS OWN SPECIAL COUNSEL LOOKING INTO CLASSIFIED INFORMATION, AND THAT IS A NARRATIVE THAT’S REALLY GOING TO BE A STRUGGLE FOR THE WHITE HOUSE TO GET AROUND. ALRIGHT I’M SURE IT WILL BE