Topline
Robert Hur, the special counsel who investigated President Joe Biden’s handling of White House materials, will defend his final report and its criticisms of the president in testimony to Congress on Monday, according to his planned opening remarks, after garnering pushback for arguing Biden could portray himself as an “elderly man with a poor memory.”
Key Facts
Hur will testify to the Republican-led House Judiciary Committee, after publishing a report in February that argued Biden should not be charged with mishandling classified materials, but also called the president’s memory into question.
The report suggested Biden could not recall such details as when his vice presidency began and ended, when his son Beau Biden died and how a tranche of classified documents about Afghanistan ended up in his garage, apparently even after he found them at his home.
In drafts of his opening statement published by Politico and the Associated Press, Hur said he “needed to show my work” and provide “rigorous, detailed, and thorough analysis” of his decision to drop the investigation without bringing charges.
Hur said that since he had to determine whether Biden retained documents “willfully,” he “could not make that determination without assessing the President’s state of mind” and “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.”
“The evidence and the President himself put his memory squarely at issue,” Hur will reportedly argue, pointing to Biden’s failure to remember details about him retaining classified documents.
The White House has strongly opposed Hur’s characterization of Biden’s memory as “inappropriate” and the president’s lawyers reportedly protested the details on Biden’s memory before the report was released, and legal experts have suggested it’s unusual that such a report would contain details about Biden’s memories of events in his personal life, like the death of his son.
Crucial Quote
“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,” Hur will say, according to Politico and the AP. “I did not sanitize my explanation. Nor did I disparage the President unfairly.”
Chief Critic
“I’m well-meaning and I’m an elderly man and I know what the hell I’m doing,” Biden said after Hur’s report was released, insisting, “My memory’s fine.” About Hur’s comments on Biden forgetting when his son died, the president said, “How the hell dare he raise that” and added he “thought to myself it wasn’t any of their damn business” when that was asked.
What To Watch For
Hur will testify to the House Judiciary Committee on Monday, which comes as the GOP-controlled committee has been investigating Biden in an impeachment inquiry. Lawmakers have also subpoenaed materials in Hur’s investigation. In the draft of his remarks reported by Politico, Hur said his testimony will be limited to “clarifying” what’s in the report, and he will “refrain from speculating or commenting on areas outside the scope of the investigation” or discuss investigative steps that weren’t detailed in the report.
Key Background
Hur was appointed in Jan. 2023 to investigate the president after classified materials were found in his home and office, which came after former President Donald Trump had already come under fire for bringing White House documents back to Mar-a-Lago. Unlike Trump, who allegedly concealed documents from investigators after an investigation began, Biden alerted authorities to the documents and had them taken away. Hur has garnered criticism from the left given his background, as Trump previously appointed him to serve as a U.S. Attorney during his presidency. The prosecutor said in his final report it would be difficult to prove at trial that Biden willfully retained classified documents, even as he alleged there is evidence Biden retained some materials and shared them with a ghostwriter. A jury would likely believe the president is a “sympathetic, well-meaning, elderly man with a poor memory” who was simply forgetful, Hur wrote, noting there are also “innocent explanations” that could be presented for any alleged mishandling of documents. The special counsel’s report revived concerns over Biden’s age and memory as it’s already been a liability for the 81-year-old president ahead of the November election, though his physician concluded in a report from an exam after Hur’s report was published that Biden is a “healthy, active, robust 81-year-old male, who remains fit to successfully execute the duties of the Presidency.”