Robert Hur on Tuesday will face lawmakers eager to question the findings of his yearlong probe into President Joe Biden’s handling of classified documents, an investigation that ultimately absolved the president of legal culpability but left him with a trail of political liabilities.
Hur wrote in a 388-page report published last month that he would not recommend charges against the president despite uncovering evidence that Biden “willfully retained” classified materials. In the course of explaining his rationale for that conclusion, Hur also included language critical of Biden’s mental acuity, saying that a potential jury would likely find him to be a “sympathetic, well-meaning, elderly man with a poor memory.”
President Biden and his allies welcomed Hur’s decision not to bring charges, but forcefully pushed back on his characterizations of the president’s age and memory.
Hur’s position was bolstered by a senior career official at the Justice Department, who — in a letter sent to Biden’s personal attorneys last month — pushed back on accusations that the language used by Hur was “gratuitous” and violated DOJ’s norms of not discussing the conduct of uncharged individuals.
“The identified language is neither gratuitous nor unduly prejudicial because it is not offered to criticize or demean the President,” Associate Deputy Attorney General Bradley Weinsheimer wrote to Biden’s legal team. “Rather, it is offered to explain Special Counsel Hur’s conclusions about the President’s state of mind in possessing and retaining classified information.”
Click here for ABC’s full preview of Hur’s congressional testimony today.
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Author: Paul Bedard
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