(WASHINGTON) — Robert Hur, who as special counsel conducted the yearlong probe into President Joe Biden’s handling of classified documents that ultimately absolved the president of legal culpability, will face questions on Tuesday from members of the House Judiciary Committee.
Hur, who was previously nominated by then-President Donald Trump as U.S. attorney for the District of Maryland, wrote in his 388-page report published last month that he would not recommend charges against President Biden despite uncovering evidence that Biden “willfully retained” classified materials.
In the course of explaining his rationale for that conclusion, Hur said that a potential jury would likely find Biden to be a “sympathetic, well-meaning, elderly man with a poor memory.”
Here’s how the news is developing:
Mar 12, 9:37 AM
‘I needed to show my work,’ Hur plans to tell panel
In his opening statement to Congress, former special counsel Robert Hur plans to explain how he characterized Joe Biden’s memory in his report on the president’s handling of classified documents released in February, which found that no charges were warranted because the evidence wasn’t sufficient to support a conviction.
According to his opening statement obtained by ABC News, Hur will address his criticism of Biden’s memory in the report: “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.”
Hur, who will testify before the House Judiciary Committee, plans to say, “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.”
Hur will argue that the purpose of his investigation was to determine whether or not Biden “willfully” retained or disclosed classified information and that he “could not make that determination without assessing the President’s state of mind.”
Mar 12, 9:31 AM
Transcript contradicts Biden’s account of exchange over son’s death
A transcript of President Biden’s interview with special counsel Robert Hur, released to lawmakers prior to Hur’s testimony and obtained by ABC News, contradicts the president’s characterization of an exchange about the death of his son, Beau Biden, from brain cancer.
“There’s even a reference that I don’t remember when my son died,” a visibly irate Biden told reporters hours after special counsel Robert Hur’s report was made public last month. “How in the hell dare he raise that? Frankly, when I was asked the question, I thought to myself: It wasn’t any of their damn business.”
But according to an ABC News review of the transcript, it was Biden, not Hur, who first invoked his son’s death — and the president indeed struggled to recall the exact year it occurred.
“And so I hadn’t, I hadn’t at this point … I hadn’t walked away from the idea that I may run for office again,” Biden said during a line of questioning about his activities after leaving the vice presidency in 2017.
“But if I ran again, I’d be running for president,” he said, per the transcript. “And, and so what was happening though — what month did Beau die? Oh, God, May 30th–“
After two others present reminded him that Beau passed away in 2015, Biden said: “Was it 2015 he had died?”
“It was May of 2015,” another person said, according to the transcript.
The incident is cited by Hur, who characterized Biden in his 388-page report as a “sympathetic, well-meaning, elderly man with a poor memory” — a description that Biden and his legal team sharply criticized in the aftermath of the report’s publication.
While the transcript showed moments of memory lapses on Biden’s part, his testimony also included detailed descriptions of events that happened many years prior, including policy debates and his own foreign travel.
Mar 12, 9:23 AM
Hur scheduled to appear at 10 a.m. ET
Former special counsel Robert Hur is scheduled to appear before the House Judiciary Committee at 10 a.m. ET.
Republicans on the committee summoned him to testify in a public setting to examine the findings of his yearlong probe. The panel also subpoenaed the Justice Department for recordings, transcripts, notes, and other documents pertinent to the investigation.
Hur’s report said investigators searching Biden’s home found documents marked classified from as far back as the 1970s — but that he would not recommend charges against the president, saying the “evidence does not establish Mr. Biden’s guilt beyond a reasonable doubt.”
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