Robert Hur’s Choice for Legal Representation Is Pretty Troubling

Special counsel Robert Hur sought advice before testifying in front of the House Judiciary Committee on Tuesday. And the adviser he picked has deep ties to Donald Trump.

Hur, whom Trump appointed to the Justice Department in 2017, investigated Joe Biden for keeping classified documents after leaving the vice presidency. Although Biden was not charged, Hur’s report damningly described him as a “well-meaning, elderly man with a poor memory.” Hur officially resigned from the Department of Justice on Monday, the day before his testimony.

His departure already raised red flags for some people. Had he still been a federal employee, the Justice Department would have been more involved in Hur’s testimony and behavior during the hearing, making sure both followed department ethics guidelines. But as a private citizen, Hur is freed from those constraints.

More concerning, though, is the man that private citizen Hur picked to help him prepare ahead of testifying. Hur has been working with William Burck, a longtime lawyer with deep ties to both the Republican establishment and Trump’s inner circle, as well as a history of stonewalling Democratic efforts.

Burck served in George W. Bush’s administration, first as the president’s deputy counsel, then as special counsel, and finally as White House deputy staff secretary. When he left office, Bush designated Burck as one of his official representatives to the National Archives and Records Administration.

Burck has primarily been in the private sector since then, including serving on the board of Fox News parent company Fox Corporation since 2021. In his law practice, Burck has had some major clients in recent years. He represented three Trump White House officials during the Robert Mueller probe into Russian interference in the 2016 election. Burck worked with Trump’s first White House counsel, Don McGahn, his first chief of staff, Reince Priebus, and his 2016 campaign chair and White House strategist, Steve Bannon.

But Burck’s ties to Trump go even further. In mid- to late 2018, he was tasked with reviewing more than 100,000 pages of Bush-era records related to now–Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh. Trump nominated Kavanaugh to the high court in July 2018. Burck advised Trump to invoke executive privilege over those documents, blocking Democrats on the Senate Judiciary Committee from seeing them during Kavanaugh’s confirmation process—which later turned into a painful and drawn-out investigation rife with sexual assault allegations against the nominee.

When Hur was tapped to look into Biden, he was supposed to be a nonpartisan investigator. Instead, he ultimately handed Republicans a major tool in discrediting the president’s mental capabilities. And his choice of counsel doesn’t make him look much better.