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Post by Newsman on Mar 12, 2024 16:13:08 GMT -5
 (The Guardian) Special counsel Robert Hur to testify on Biden classified documents probeRobert Hur is set to testify this morning in front of the Republican-controlled House judiciary committee weeks after his report into Joe Biden’s handling of classified documents after his vice-presidency. In his report released in February, Hur, a former US attorney appointed by Donald Trump, recommended that Biden not be charged for possessing classified documents while criticizing the president’s ability to recall events, saying that a potential jury would likely find him to be a “sympathetic, well-meaning, elderly man with a poor memory”. Hur’s report drew immediate backlash from the president’s Democratic allies and from Biden himself, who angrily pushed back on comments about his mental acuity particularly over Hur’s mention that he “did not remember, even within several years, when his son Beau died”. Biden said of the special counsel at the time: I don’t need anyone, anyone, to remind me when he passed away. How the hell dare he raise that. But the transcript of the interview contradicts the president’s characterization, and appears to show Biden indeed struggled to recall the exact year his son’s death occurred. It was also Biden himself who first brought up Beau’s death, not Hur, the transcript showed. |
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Post by Webster on Mar 12, 2024 16:14:52 GMT -5
(The Guardian) Hur to testify as private citizen after leaving justice departmentRobert Hur, the former Trump-appointed special counsel who spent the last year investigating Joe Biden’s handling of classified documents, will testify before the House judiciary committee as a private citizen after leaving the justice department. According to a report by the Independent, Hur arranged his departure from the justice department to be official as of Monday 11 March, meaning that he will appear on Capitol Hill as a private citizen with no constraints on his testimony. The paper quoted a House judiciary committee source as saying that Hur’s departure from government service a day before his scheduled appearance is a “major red flag for Democrats” and makes it “more problematic”. Hur finished up his work last week and is no longer with the justice department, according to a department spokesperson.
Hur to defend comments on Biden's memory as 'necessary, accurate and fair' Robert Hur is expected to double down on his comments on Joe Biden’s memory that he made in his report on the president’s handling of classified documents when he appears before the House judiciary committee this morning. According to his opening statement, obtained by Politico, Hur will argue that his assessment of Biden’s memory in the 388-page report released last month was “necessary and accurate and fair” and that his job required him to “consider the president’s memory and overall mental state, and how a jury likely would perceive his memory and mental state in a criminal trial”. The statement goes on: I did not sanitize my explanation. Nor did I disparage the president unfairly. I explained to the attorney general my decision and the reasons for it. That’s what I was required to do.
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Post by Webster on Mar 12, 2024 16:16:35 GMT -5
(The Guardian) Robert Hur is also expected to defend his investigation into Joe Biden’s handling of classified documents as having been carried out “fairly, thoroughly, and professionally”, according to his opening statement obtained by Politico. Hur will say that his team conducted a “thorough, independent investigation” and identified that the president had “willfully retained classified materials after the end of his vice presidency, when he was a private citizen”. -- We did not, however, identify evidence that rose to the level of proof beyond a reasonable doubt. Because the evidence fell short of that standard, I declined to recommend criminal charges against Mr Biden.The justice department required him to write a report explaining his decision to the US attorney general, Hur is expected to say. -- I understood that my explanation about this case had to include rigorous, detailed, and thorough analysis. In other words, I needed to show my work … I knew that for my decision to be credible, I could not simply announce that I recommended no criminal charges and leave it at that. I needed to explain why.
Robert Hur has surrounded himself with Republican partisans and Donald Trump allies during the lead-up to his appearance before the House judiciary committee today, according to the Independent report. The paper cited sources who said they were “alarmed” by Hur’s choice of associates ahead of Tuesday’s hearing, including retaining William Burck, “a veteran Washington lawyer with deep ties to the Republican political establishment”, as his personal attorney. Burck is a former federal prosecutor who then served as President George W Bush’s lawyer and a former deputy at the Bush White House. He also represented three Trump White House officials during the justice department’s probe into Russian interference in the 2016 election. A source told the Independent that both Hur and Burck “have long histories as Republican partisans”, adding that Hur’s legal team “has not been particularly communicative” with the Democratic side of the panel in the run-up to the former special counsel’s testimony. Another source told the paper that committee members have taken note of Hur’s legal team and “are expecting him to attempt to inflict as much political harm” on Joe Biden as he can. The source added: Where people like .... Bill Burck come in is to help him weaponise the report he wrote in order to damage the president.
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Post by Webster on Mar 12, 2024 16:17:51 GMT -5
(The Guardian) Transcript of Biden's interview with Robert Hur paints nuanced pictureOver five hours of interviews, Joe Biden repeatedly told special counsel Robert Hur that he never meant to retain classified information after he left the vice-presidency, but he was at times fuzzy about dates and said he was unfamiliar with the paper trail for some of the sensitive documents he handled. In his report, Hur concluded that Biden should not face criminal charges over his mishandling of documents but also impugned the president’s age and competence. Hur wrote in his report: Mr Biden would likely present himself to a jury, as he did during our interview of him, as a sympathetic, well-meaning, elderly man with a poor memory.But a review of a transcript of the interviews by the Associated Press shows that while Biden fumbled some details in his interview, it also raises questions about Hur’s depiction of the 81-year-old president as having “significant limitations” on his memory. -Read more: www.theguardian.com/us-news/2024/mar/12/biden-interview-transcripts-robert-hur
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Post by Webster on Mar 12, 2024 16:18:49 GMT -5
(The Guardian) Special counsel Robert Hur has arrived ahead of a hearing of the House judiciary committee on Capitol Hill, where will testify about his investigation into Joe Biden’s handling of classified documents.
The White House is planning to fact-check Robert Hur’s testimony on Capitol Hill in real time, administration officials have said. White House officials will be releasing rapid responses to claims by both congressional Republicans and the special counsel himself, NBC and CNN reported.
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Post by Webster on Mar 12, 2024 16:20:16 GMT -5
(The Guardian) House judiciary committee hearing begins with special counsel Robert Hur to testifySpecial counsel Robert Hur is about to testify in front of the Republican-led House judiciary committee. The scheduled start of the hearing was disrupted by shouts from members of audience protesting against Israel’s war in Gaza.
Jim Jordan, the Republican chair of the House judiciary committee, began the hearing by claiming that Robert Hurt’s report determined that Joe Biden “unlawfully” retained classified information. Hur’s report found that Biden “willfully retained and disclosed classified materials after his vice presidency when he was a private citizen”. But the special counsel concluded that criminal charges would not be warranted against Biden in relation to wrongly retaining classified material. The report said that even if Biden were not president, Hur would not recommend criminal charges.
Republican chair of the House judiciary committee Jim Jordan’s opening statement accused Joe Biden of “arrogance” and said what came through Robert Hur’s report was that the president “felt he was entitled”. Jordan then used his statement to play a large part of the president’s press conference that he gave after the release of the special counsel’s report. In his response, Jerry Nadler, the Democrat House judiciary committee ranking member, jokingly thanked Jordan for having “such admiration for the president that you’ve allowed him to take the first 10 minutes off this hearing”.
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Post by Webster on Mar 12, 2024 16:30:17 GMT -5
(The Guardian) Democrat Jerry Nadler highlights distinction between Biden and Trump casesJerry Nadler, the Democrat House judiciary committee ranking member, began his opening statement by saying that House Republicans are “desperate to convince America that white conservative men are on the losing end of a two-tiered justice system, a theory … that has no basis in reality”. Special counsel Robert Hur’s report helps “draw a distinction” between Joe Biden and Donald Trump and it “represents the complete and total exoneration of President Biden”, Nadler said. Nadler then played a compilation of Trump appearing to have memory lapses including saying the wrong names for people and looking confused. Biden volunteered to sit through a five-hour interview with Hur, where he “probably committed a verbal slip or two”, Nadler said. -- And then, there is Donald Trump. What kind of man bungles not one, but dozens of opportunities to avoid criminal liability. What does that say about his mental state?
Robert Hur delivers opening statement to CongressFormer special counsel Robert Hur has begun delivering his opening statement to the House judiciary committee. Hur says he is privileged to have served the country, most of those years with the Department of Justice including as a line prosecutor, a supervisor, the principal associate deputy attorney general, a US attorney and a special counsel. He says he has served these roles “with gratitude” and as the son of immigrants from Korea. He says: No matter the role, no matter the administration, I have applied the same standards and the same impartiality. My respect for the justice department and my commitment to this country are why I agreed to serve as special counsel when asked by the attorney general.
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Post by Webster on Mar 12, 2024 16:39:05 GMT -5
(The Guardian) Hur says his assessment of Biden's memory 'accurate and fair'In his opening statement, former special counsel Robert Hur defended his descriptions of Joe Biden’s memory and its relevance in his report as “necessary, accurate and fair”. Hur said: There has been a lot of attention paid to language in the report about the president’s memory, so let me say a few words about that. My task was to determine whether the president retained or disclosed national defense information “willfully” – meaning, knowingly and with the intent to do something the law forbids. I could not make that determination without assessing the president’s state of mind.Hur said that for that reason, he had to “consider the president’s memory and overall mental state, and how a jury likely would perceive his memory and mental state in a criminal trial”. He added: My assessment in the report about the relevance of the president’s memory was necessary and accurate and fair. Most importantly, what I wrote is what I believe the evidence shows, and what I expect jurors would perceive and believe. I did not sanitize my explanation. Nor did I disparage the president unfairly. I explained to the attorney general my decision and the reasons for it. That’s what I was required to do.
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Post by Webster on Mar 12, 2024 16:40:14 GMT -5
(The Guardian) James Comer, the Republican chair of the House oversight committee, said that one of his first actions in his role was to launch an investigation into Joe Biden’s mishandling of classified documents. In his opening statement, Comer said that the investigation uncovered “alarming” information that “contradicts the White House’s and President Biden’s personal attorney’s narrative” about the discovery of classified documents at the Penn Biden center. Comer said: Why did President Biden keep documents in unsecure locations for years? Many questions remain. But now the White House is obstructing Congress as we seek the truth for the American people.Jamie Raskin, the Democrat House oversight ranking member, used his opening statement to note that Biden offered “complete and unhesitating cooperation” with the special counsel’s investigation, and that he “did not assert executive privilege or claim absolute immunity for presidential crimes”, unlike Donald Trump. -- He did not hide boxes of documents under his bed or in a bathtub. He did not fight investigators nor did he seek to redact a single word of Mr Hur’s report.Citing the separate special counsel investigation into Trump’s classified documents case, Trump “not only refused to return the documents for months, but he also obstructed justice by enlisting others to destroy evidence and then to lie about it,” Raskin said.
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Post by Webster on Mar 12, 2024 16:42:08 GMT -5
(The Guardian) Jerry Nadler, the Democrat House judiciary committee ranking member, pressed former special counsel Robert Hur on the legal standard necessary to file charges. Nadler argued that “so many people” have taken Hur’s findings “out of context”, and noted that the report ultimately concluded that Biden could not be charged with a crime because the special counsel could not find sufficient evidence to charge the president. Addressing Hur, Nadler said: You have been a prosecutor for a long time. Would you agree that there is no such thing as being a little charged for a crime? You’re either charged or you are not charged.Hur replied: Yes, it is binary.
Jim Jordan, the Republican chair of the House judiciary committee, argued that Joe Biden held on to classified documents because he wanted to write a book off of them. Jordan said Biden had made $8m in a book advance, and that he had “eight million reasons to break the rules”. The New York Times has pointed out that the classified documents found in Biden’s Delaware garage were from a 2009 Obama debate about the Afghanistan war, and that Biden’s book was about the death of his son, Beau, and did not mention that issue.
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Post by Webster on Mar 12, 2024 16:42:43 GMT -5
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Post by Webster on Mar 12, 2024 16:44:08 GMT -5
(The Guardian) Tom McClintock, the Republican congressman from California, said former special counsel Robert Hur had established a “frightening” doctrine in his decision to not charge Joe Biden for his handling of classified documents. McClintock asked Hur: Is it now OK to keep classified documents in my garage and take them out and show them to my associates?Hur responded: I would not recommend it.McClintock then said: All I have to do when I’m caught taking home classified materials to say ‘I’m sorry, Mr. Hur, but I’m getting old, my memories not so great.’ This is the doctrine that you’ve established in our laws now and it’s frightening.
Jamie Raskin, the top Democrat on the House oversight committee, accused Republicans of appointing themselves “amateur memory detectives” and said they had “completely lost their way” in their support of Donald Trump. As lawmakers “play pin the tail on the donkey on this wild goose chase”, Trump is engaged in a “full-blown embrace and romance with authoritarian dictators and communist tyrants” including the leaders of Hungary, Russia and North Korea, Raskin said. Raskin added: This is a memory test, but it’s not a memory test for President Biden. It’s a memory test for all of America. Do we remember fascism? Remember Nazism?
That’s what all of this is about. It’s about trying to pull the wool over the eyes of America, because the tyrants and dictators of the world are on the march today.
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Post by Webster on Mar 12, 2024 16:45:45 GMT -5
(The Guardian) Matt Gaetz, the Republican congressman from Florida, accused former special counsel Robert Hur of being lenient on Joe Biden because of “senile cooperator theory”. Gaetz said Hur’s assessment of Biden’s mental acuity was based on the fact that the president “cooperated and the elevator didn’t go to the top floor”. Gaetz continued: I don’t believe Biden should have been charged, I don’t think Trump should have been charged.Steve Cohen, the Democrat congressman from Tennessee, pushed back on Gaetz’s comments, which he said were “disrespectful of senior people”.
Georgia congressman Hank Johnson suggested that Robert Hur was “doing everything you can do to get Trump re-elected to get appointed as a federal judge” or another justice department role. Johnson said: You knew that would play into the Republicans’ narrative that the president is senile. That is why they are having you here today.Hur reacted angrily, saying: I have no such aspirations. Partisan politics has no place whatsoever in my work.Hur has acknowledged that he is a registered Republican.
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Post by Webster on Mar 12, 2024 16:46:50 GMT -5
(The Guardian) Adam Schiff, the Democratic congressman from California, upbraided former special counsel Robert Hur for issuing a “deeply prejudicial” report that hurt Joe Biden by questioning his cognitive capacity. “You were not born yesterday, you understood exactly what you were doing,” Schiff said. -- You cannot tell me you’re so naive as to think your words would not have created a political firestorm. You understood that, didn’t you, when you wrote those words?Hur denied this, saying that “politics played no part whatsoever” in his report.
Robert Hur declined to rule out accepting a role in a potential Trump administration. Hur was appointed as a US attorney by Donald Trump in 2017. Asked by Democrat congressman Eric Swalwell if he would pledge not to accept an appointment from Trump in a possible second term, Hur said: I’m not here to speak about what may or may not happen in the future.
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Post by Webster on Mar 12, 2024 16:47:18 GMT -5
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