Biden taps problem-solver Bob Bauer as personal lawyer in document probe
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[January 14, 2023]
By Andrew Goudsward and Trevor Hunnicutt
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President Joe Biden is turning to a longtime
Democratic problem-solver, lawyer Bob Bauer, to manage his response to a
U.S. special counsel's investigation into his handling of classified
material after the discovery of documents at his private office and
home.
Bauer will serve as Biden's personal lawyer during a probe by U.S.
Special Counsel Robert Hur, a former U.S. attorney in Maryland who was
tapped by Attorney General Merrick Garland on Thursday to examine
whether classified documents had been improperly removed or retained.
A spokesperson for Bauer confirmed that he is representing Biden but
declined further comment. The White House has said the documents were
"inadvertently misplaced" and that it is cooperating fully but has
declined to respond to detailed questions on the investigation.
The pick shows Biden circling the wagons, relying on a trusted inner
circle that has guided much of his recent political career to beat back
political and legal fallout from the investigation, which comes as he
weighs running for re-election in 2024.
Republicans, who now control the House of Representatives, are eager to
paint Biden's administration as scandal-plagued as former President
Donald Trump, who has announced his 2024 candidacy, faces investigations
and lawsuits over classified documents, election fraud and tax payment.
Biden had turned to Bauer, now a law professor at New York University,
for help in deciding whether to seek the presidency in 2020. Bauer
subsequently served as a senior adviser to Biden's campaign, leading an
army of lawyers who monitored voting access and fought off legal
challenges from Trump, Biden's Republican opponent. Bauer also played
the role of Trump in Biden's debate preparation.
Bauer won praise for managing the rocky period from the election to the
announcement of a victor four days later and then through the
presidential transition, when Trump refused to concede defeat and
pursued novel and unsuccessful legal challenges to prevent Biden from
taking office.
Bauer has long been a fixture in Democratic legal circles, representing
both of President Barack Obama's presidential campaigns and serving as
Obama's White House counsel from 2009 to 2011. While working as the
Obama campaign's general counsel in 2008, Bauer helped vet Biden as
Obama's pick for vice president.
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U.S. President Joe Biden departs aboard
the Marine One helicopter for travel to Delaware from the White
House in Washington, U.S. January 13, 2023. REUTERS/Jonathan Ernst
In those years, he also became close with Biden and supported his
efforts to consider a 2016 bid for the presidency even as others in
the administration favored former Secretary of State Hillary
Clinton, the eventual Democratic nominee.
Biden, grieving the 2015 death of his son Beau, ultimately declined
to run in 2016 after consultation with a small group including
Bauer. Clinton lost to Trump, and Biden mounted a bid four years
later.
Gray-bearded and scholarly in mien, Bauer spent nearly his entire
career at the law firm Perkins Coie, starting the firm's influential
political law practice. Firms like Perkins collect millions of
dollars in billable hours from the warring U.S. political parties
during election season.
"He looks and has the temperament of the college professor and he's
a hard-as-nails litigator and strategist," NYU law professor Samuel
Issacharoff, who worked under Bauer on both Obama campaigns, told
Reuters in 2020.
Bauer retired from Perkins Coie in 2018 to focus on his teaching,
but continued representing some clients in an individual capacity.
He is married to Anita Dunn, another Biden confidant and senior
White House adviser. Dunn is a key architect of Biden's
communications strategy who has helped with personnel decisions and
crafting a message to counter Republican opponents.
Bauer will now work with White House lawyers as Biden responds to
the special counsel's investigation. Documents with classified
markings were found both at Biden's personal office at a Washington
think tank and in a garage at his Delaware home in recent months.
(Reporting by Andrew Goudsward and Trevor Hunnicutt in Washington;
Editing by Will Dunham, David Bario and Heather Timmons)
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