By ZEKE MILLER and ERIC TUCKER, The Associated Press

WASHINGTON (AP) — Attorney General Merrick Garland has appointed a special counsel to investigate the presence of documents with classified markings found at President Joe Biden’s home in Wilmington, Delaware, and at an office in Washington.

Earlier Thursday, Biden acknowledged that a document with classified markings from his time as vice president was found in his “personal library” at his home in Wilmington, Delaware, along with other documents found in his garage.

Biden told reporters at the White House that he was “cooperating fully and completely” with a Justice Department investigation.

Biden did not say when the latest documents were found, only that his lawyers’ review of potential storage locations was completed Wednesday night.

Robert Hur, the former Trump-appointed U.S. attorney in Maryland, will lead the investigation, taking over from the top Justice Department prosecutor in Chicago, John Lausch, who was earlier assigned by the department to investigate the matter. Hur is to begin his work soon.

The Justice Department that has spent months looking into the retention by Donald Trump of more than 300 documents with classification markings found at the former president’s Florida estate.

Though the situations are factually and legally different, the discovery of classified documents at two separate locations tied to Biden — as well as the appointment of a new special counsel — would almost certainly complicate any prosecution that the department might bring against Trump.