WASHINGTON (TND) — The special counsel who investigated President Joe Biden for his handling of classified materials faced hours of grueling questions on Capitol Hill on Tuesday in a contentious hearing where lawmakers in both parties had significant gripes with the former federal prosecutor.
Robert Hur, who was appointed to lead the U.S. attorney’s office in Maryland by former President Donald Trump, was chosen as a special prosecutor last year to handle the politically sensitive investigation of Biden. The appointment of a special prosecutor in the case was meant to ease concerns about political influence playing a factor in the case, but it appears to have done little to soothe lawmakers in Congress, with bipartisan frustration with Hur, although for separate reasons.
The high political stakes of Hur’s report and the hearing were evident from the start of the hearing, with lawmakers comparing the two cases and lobbing charges of wrongdoing about the opposing party’s presidential nominee. Many lines of questioning sought to contrast the two cases and rather than asking about the contents of Hur’s reports and the thinking behind his team’s decisions.
Tuesday’s hearing highlighted what’s to come over the next eight months as Trump and Biden could clinch their party’s presidential nominations on the same day in what is already a bitter and divisive rematch of the 2020 election.
The hearing comes after Hur released a nearly 400-page report that said there was not sufficient evidence to move forward with criminal charges against the president, but painted an unflattering picture about his memory and ability to recall details like when his son Beau had died or the years he was vice president.
Transcripts released by committee Democrats on Tuesday morning showed a mixed bag when it came to his memory. While he fumbled over some dates and details in parts of the deposition, he also sometimes corrected investigators when they misspoke and went into lengthy detail about other issues.
Those transcripts also showed Biden repeatedly insisted that he did not mean to keep classified documents once he left the vice presidency, except for a personal diary he kept that contained classified information. However, his interview with Hur and other investigators showed he did not always have a full understanding of how sensitive materials ended up where they did.
Republicans pushed Hur on his decision not to charge the president, which comes Trump faces his own legal troubles over retaining classified materials and questioned whether the Justice Department had interfered for Biden’s political benefit. Some also accused Biden of willingly taking classified materials to make money and satisfy his own ego.
“It wasn’t just the money, it was also his ego. Pride and money is why he knowingly violated the rules,” said Rep. Jim Jordan, the chairman of the Judiciary Committee. “The oldest motives in the book, pride and money.”
Legal experts and Hur’s own report detailed in length the differences between the two cases, mainly that Biden cooperated with investigators and turned in records that were found in his possession, while Trump is accused of obstructing and investigation and refusing to hand over classified documents.
But Republicans still charged Hur and the Justice Department of playing politics with the investigation into the president. Several accused them of having a double standard that was biased against the former president.
“Unfortunately, you are part of the Praetorian Guard that guards the swamp out here in Washington, D.C. protecting the elites. And Joe Biden is part of that company of the elites,” said Rep. Thomas Tiffany, R-Wis.
In responses to questions, Hur said that he was not pressured to come to any particular finding in his investigation and had adequate resources to conduct it thoroughly, allowing him to come to his own conclusions that were detailed at length in his final report.
“Attorney General Garland did not interfere with my efforts, and I was able to conduct a fair, thorough and independent investigation,” Hur said.
Democrats dismissed Republican complaints of a double standard of justice as seeking to help Trump politically as he faces multiple criminal prosecutions.
“House Republicans may be desperate to convince America that white conservative men are on the losing end of a two-tiered justice system, a theory that appeals to the (Make America Great Again) crowd that has no basis in reality,” said Rep. Jerry Nadler, D-N.Y. and ranking Democrat. “But your comments today make me wonder if you have read the special counsel’s report at all.”
Some Democrats on the panel pressed Hur on his decision to include passages about Biden’s memory problems, accusing him of having partisan motives. The White House also took issue with the unflattering depictions of the president’s mental acuities, including making a request to have them struck from the report.
“You were not born yesterday, you understood exactly what you were doing,” said Rep. Adam Schiff, D-Calif. “You cannot tell me you’re so naive to think your words would not have created a political firestorm.”
In his opening statement, Hur defended the inclusion as necessary to showing his work and justification as to why the president would not be facing charges.
“The need to show my work was especially strong here. The attorney general had appointed me to investigate the actions of the attorney general's boss, the sitting president of the United States. 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,” Hur said.
Also looming in the background of Tuesday’s hearing is House Republicans’ ongoing impeachment inquiry into the president. While that inquiry is focused on accusations that Biden took when he was vice president, the lawmakers leading that investigation were present at Tuesday’s hearing and accused the White House of obstructing their own probe.
In defense of the president, Democrats accused Republicans of misrepresenting the facts and partaking in a quest to impeach the president on a case that is not supported by facts or witness testimony.
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