Washington — The Democratic Nationwide Committee paid at the very least $1.7 million to legislation corporations representing President Biden throughout particular counsel Robert Hur’s investigation into his dealing with of categorised paperwork, based on federal spending disclosures.
Hur finally declined to prosecute the president, however wrote in a prolonged report earlier this yr that Mr. Biden “willfully retained and disclosed categorised supplies” after his vice presidency resulted in 2017.
Federal information present the committee paid Bob Bauer PLLC greater than $1 million between July 2023 and this February. Bauer served because the president’s private legal professional within the paperwork matter. The information additionally mirror month-to-month funds of $100,000 to legislation agency Hemenway and Barnes over roughly the identical time interval. Axios first reported the funds on Friday.
Bauer and former Justice Division official David Laufman accompanied the president throughout his interview with the particular counsel in October 2023. Jennifer Miller, an legal professional at Hemenway and Barnes, was additionally a part of the president’s private authorized workforce.
A spokesperson for Bauer declined to remark. Each Bauer and Hemenway and Barnes supplied authorized providers to the DNC previous to the Justice Division probe into Mr. Biden’s dealing with of categorised paperwork which started in late 2022.
Whereas former President Donald Trump’s authorized charges and entanglements dwarf these of Mr. Biden’s, each are counting on political donations to cowl the prices.
As just lately as this week, Mr. Biden’s reelection marketing campaign criticized Trump’s apply of counting on politically allied teams to cowl attorneys’ charges. The Biden marketing campaign circulated a press launch highlighting its money benefit over Trump — and the way entities backing Trump have spent tens of thousands and thousands of {dollars} on his authorized protection.
Alex Floyd, a spokesperson for the DNC, stated in a press release that there’s “no comparability” between the DNC’s funds to the president’s attorneys and Trump’s efforts to solicit donations for his authorized troubles.
“[T]he DNC doesn’t spend a single penny of grassroots donors’ cash on authorized payments, in contrast to Donald Trump, who actively solicits authorized charges from his supporters and has drawn down each checking account he can get his palms on like a private piggy financial institution,” Floyd stated.
In January 2023, CBS Information requested the Democratic Nationwide Committee and spokespeople for the president and his authorized workforce who was paying Mr. Biden’s authorized payments within the paperwork.
None would reply instantly.
“I imply, it is his personal, it is his personal legal professional. So I would depart it — I’d simply say it is his personal legal professional,” White Home press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre stated on the time.