Deputy AG Monaco recused self from the Biden classified docs investigation: report

Deputy Attorney General Lisa Monaco recused herself last year from the Justice Department probe into President Joe Biden's handling of classified documents by Special Counsel Robert Hur, reportedly citing how she would have handled the investigation differently.

Monaco, currently serving in Justice Department leadership, was former President Barack Obama's Homeland Security adviser and previously held various roles in his DOJ.

A spokesperson for Monaco told Axios, which first reported the recusal, the department "does not comment on internal deliberations and it would not be appropriate to discuss any recusals here."

The spokesperson also said that Monaco "has never discussed the Hur investigation with the White House, and has not disagreed with the Attorney General on the handling of any significant matter," disputing the account of her recusal. 

The Biden White House publicly and privately expressed frustration with the Hur report. In a letter dated Feb. 5, President Biden’s lawyers vehemently criticized Hur’s decision to use “prejudicial language” to describe President Biden’s memory.

“We do not believe that the report's treatment of President Biden's memory is accurate or appropriate,” White House wrote Hur in a letter, appended to the report. “The report uses highly prejudicial language to describe a commonplace occurrence among witnesses: a lack of recall of years-old events."