在任命时罗伯特·胡尔将担任特别检察官在拜登机密文件调查中，司法部长梅里克·加兰(Merrick Garland)列出了比以前更多的关于文件如何成为调查中心的时间表。
以下是重大进展的最新时间表:
11月4日:国家档案馆检察长联系了司法部，称白宫通知国家档案馆，在华盛顿特区的智库佩恩·拜登中心(Penn Biden Center)发现了带有分类标记的文件，总统乔·拜登(Joe Biden)在2017年卸任副总统后曾使用过该中心。据拜登的律师称，这些机密材料来自他的副总统任期。
11月9日:联邦调查局开始评估，以了解机密信息是否被不当处理。
11月14日:加兰指派美国检察官约翰·劳施(John Lausch)就是否任命特别律师进行初步调查。
十二月二十日:拜登的私人律师告诉劳施，在拜登位于特拉华州威尔明顿的家中的车库里，发现了其他带有机密标记的文件。加兰说，联邦调查局前往该地点，并获得了这些文件。
1月5日:美国司法部长劳施建议加兰由一名特别律师进行进一步调查。在此后的日子里，劳施继续调查，DOJ确定了Hur任命为特别顾问。
1月9日:报道称，加兰指派劳施审查在佩恩·拜登中心发现的机密文件。白宫证实，总统的律师在该中心一个上锁的壁橱里发现了“少量带有机密标记的文件”。
1月10日: 拜登说他很“惊讶”得知佩恩·拜登中心有任何政府记录，他补充道，“我不知道文件里有什么。”
1月12日:总统的私人律师打电话给劳施，称在威尔明顿的总统官邸发现了另一份带有机密标记的文件。
1月12日:在一份声明中，拜登的律师报告说，在拜登的威尔明顿家中发现了“少量”带有机密标记的额外记录。他的律师继续将这些文件描述为拜登副总统时期的文件。
1月12日:加兰签署命令任命胡尔为特别检察官，并向公众通报了这一决定。白宫法律顾问办公室发言人伊恩·萨姆斯(Ian Sams)告诉美国广播公司新闻，白宫没有事先得到加兰任命特别顾问的通知。
加兰说:“根据规定，这里的特殊情况需要为此事指定一名特别律师。”
麦卡锡说:“国会必须调查”拜登文件很重要
同一天，拜登表示，他正在与司法部当局全面合作。
拜登说:“作为这一过程的一部分，我的律师审查了我担任副总统期间的文件存放的其他地方，他们昨晚完成了审查。”“他们在我家和我的私人图书馆的存储区和文件柜中发现了少量带有机密标记的文件。”
1月14日:拜登的特别顾问理查德·索伯(Richard Sauber)证实，当他与司法部合作移交几天前在威尔明顿家中发现的一页机密文件时，发现了“另外五页”的机密信息。这些页面后来被识别出来，因为发现最初机密文件的私人律师没有安全许可，根据拜登的私人律师鲍勃·鲍尔(Bob Bauer)在一份声明中概述的程序，“暂停了对发现文件的那个盒子、文件或其他特定空间的任何进一步搜索。”
Key events in the Biden classified documents probe: Updated timeline
In appointing Robert Hur to be special counsel in the Biden classified documents probe, Attorney General Merrick Garland laid out more than previously revealed about the timeline of how the documents came to be at the center of the investigation.
Here is an updated timeline of significant developments:
Nov. 4: The National Archives inspector general contacted the Justice Department to say the White House notified the National Archives that documents bearing classification markings were identified at Penn Biden Center, the think tank in Washington, D.C., that President Joe Biden used after leaving office as vice president in 2017. According to Biden's attorneys, the classified materials were from his vice presidency.
Nov 9: FBI commenced an assessment to understand whether classified information had been mishandled.
Nov. 14: Garland assigned U.S. Attorney John Lausch to conduct an initial investigation on whether to appoint a special counsel.
Dec. 20: Biden's personal counsel informed Lausch that additional documents bearing classification markings were identified in the garage of Biden's Wilmington, Delaware, home. The FBI went to the location and secured those documents, Garland said.
Jan. 5: U.S. Attorney Lausch advised Garland that further investigation by a special counsel was warranted. In the days since, Lausch continued the investigation and the DOJ identified Hur for appointment as special counsel.
Jan. 9: Reporting breaks that Garland assigned Lausch to review classified documents found at the Penn Biden Center. The White House confirms that the president's attorneys found a "small number of documents with classified markings" in a locked closet at the center.
Jan. 10: Biden said he was "surprised" to learn that there were any government records at the Penn Biden Center, adding, "I don't know what's in the documents."
Jan. 12: The president's personal counsel called Lausch and stated that an additional document bearing classification markings was identified at the president's residence in Wilmington.
Jan. 12: In a statement, Biden's lawyers reported "a small number" of additional records with classified markings were found at Biden's Wilmington home. His lawyers continue to describe these documents as dating to Biden's vice presidency.
Jan. 12: Garland signed an order appointing Hur as special counsel and briefed the public on this decision. A spokesman for the White House counsel's office, Ian Sams, told ABC News that the White House did not get advance notice Garland was appointing a special counsel.
"Under the regulations, the extraordinary circumstances here require a special counsel appointment for this matter," Garland said.
On the same day, Biden said he was cooperating fully with Justice Department authorities.
"As part of that process, my lawyers reviewed other places where documents in my -- from my time as vice president were stored and they finished the review last night," Biden said. "They discovered a small number of documents with classified markings in storage areas and file cabinets in my home and my personal library."
Jan. 14: A special counsel for Biden, Richard Sauber, confirmed that "five additional pages" of classified information were found when he was working with the Department of Justice to hand over a one-page classified document found days earlier at the Wilmington home. The pages were identified later on because the personal lawyers who came across the initial classified document did not have a security clearance and, according to procedures outlined by Biden's personal attorney Bob Bauer in a statement, "suspended any further search in that box, file or other specific space where the document was found."
