Biden documents: Who is the special counsel in the Biden probe?

A seasoned prosecutor with ties to the Trump administration will serve as special counsel to look into President Joe Biden's handling of classified documents.

Robert K Hur was appointed in 2018 by Mr Trump as the chief federal law enforcement officer in Maryland.

He left that position when President Trump left office in 2021.

The US Department of Justice appoints special counsels when an investigation poses potential conflicts of interest.

In a statement on Thursday, US Attorney General Merrick Garland said it was "in the public interest" to appoint a special counsel to oversee the probe into Mr Biden.

"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," he said.

Veteran war crimes prosecutor Jack Smith serves as special counsel in the department's ongoing inquiry into Mr Trump's alleged mishandling of classified information.

Mr Hur, a graduate of Harvard College and Stanford Law School, has most recently been in private practice, as a partner at the Washington DC office of Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher.

Prior to his appointment as the US Attorney in Maryland, he also served as the top aide to then-Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein.

Over more than a decade as a federal prosecutor, Mr Hur has worked on cases involving national security, public corruption and a host of other issues.

He worked as an aide to Christopher Wray, appointed by Mr Trump to lead the FBI in 2017, back when Mr Wray ran the Justice Department's criminal division.

Mr Hur has also clerked for former Chief Justice William Rehnquist, a conservative jurist who was appointed to the Supreme Court by Ronald Reagan.

As special counsel, he will have the authority to prosecute any crimes identified during the probe or to refer the matter for prosecution by federal attorneys. Mr Garland will retain the power to overrule his decisions but must notify Congress if that happens.

In a statement, Mr Hur vowed to "conduct the assigned investigation with fair, impartial and dispassionate judgment".

"I intend to follow the facts swiftly and thoroughly, without fear or favour, and will honour the trust placed in me to perform this service."