Former Special Counsel Robert Hur testified to Congress about his probe into President Joe Biden's handling of classified documents on March 12.
Credit: Derek WongWASHINGTON — The House Judiciary Committee grilled former United States Department of Justice Special Counsel Robert Hur on Tuesday about his report regarding classified documents “willfully retained” by President Joe Biden — many of which were found at the Penn Biden Center.
During the March 12 congressional hearing, both Democrats and Republicans probed Hur — who ultimately declined to bring charges against Biden — on the findings of his investigation. He was repeatedly questioned on his characterization of Biden’s mental fitness and the decision to not prosecute Biden, a former Benjamin Franklin Presidential Professor of Practice.
Hur repeatedly defended his conclusions, referencing the contents of the 345-page report multiple times in response to questions throughout the hearing.
“I stand by every word of it,” Hur said when Rep. Glenn Ivey (D-Md.) asked if he took “full accountability” for the report.
Hur faced questioning over concerns of foreign influence at the Penn Biden Center. Following the discovery of classified documents at the center, the U.S. House Oversight and Accountability Committee sent a letter to Penn requesting information on donations and visitors at the Penn Biden Center since 2017.
In interviews with The Daily Pennsylvanian, both Ivey and Rep. Kelly Armstrong (R-N.D.) said that they did not believe Penn should be held responsible for the fact that some of the classified documents were initially found at the Penn Biden Center.
“I don’t think there’s any evidence Penn has done anything wrong or negligent that I’ve heard,” Ivey said.
Hur, who resigned from the Department of Justice hours before the hearing, appeared before Congress as a private citizen.
“I think when you’re not a current employee of the Justice Department, you have a little more freedom to comment freely than, necessarily, under protocol,” Armstrong told the DP.
Throughout the hearing, Hur was questioned about several aspects of the investigation — including the difference in handling of classified documents between Biden and 1968 Wharton graduate and former President Donald Trump, which some representatives called a “double standard.”
“Over the last three election cycles, there have been three people who have ran for president: Hillary Clinton, Joe Biden, and Donald Trump,” Armstrong said. “All three of them have been accused of mishandling classified documents. Only one of them has been prosecuted. That’s what the American people see.”
In his opening statement, Rep. Jerry Nadler (D-N.Y.) said Biden fully “cooperated” with ongoing investigations, while Trump had refused to do the same.
“President Biden acted responsibly, cooperated completely, and the decision to decline criminal charges is relatively straightforward,” Nadler said. “How does that record contrast with President Trump?”
In the report, which was initially released in February, the special counsel wrote that Biden "willfully retained and disclosed classified material,” while noting that “the evidence does not establish Mr. Biden’s guilt beyond a reasonable doubt.”
Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-Fla.) questioned Hur about allegations of foreign influence at the Penn Biden Center.
“Did it give concern to you that the [Penn Biden] Center, where all this classified stuff was being mishandled, was being floated by foreign governments?” Gaetz asked Hur.
Much of the questioning centered around doubts about Biden’s mental acuity. In the report, Hur said that Biden would appeal to a jury as a “sympathetic, well-meaning, elderly man with a poor memory” — an allegation that resulted in widespread media coverage.
“It would be difficult to convince a jury that they should convict him — by then a former president well into his eighties — of a serious felony that requires a mental state of willfulness,” the report wrote.
The transcript of Hur’s five-hour interview with Biden regarding the investigation, spanning over the course of two days, was also released only a couple hours before Hur was set to appear before the committee.
Rep. Nathaniel Moran (R-Texas) raised the possibility of a conservatorship for Biden’s personal finances, citing the District of Columbia’s definition of an “incapacitated individual.”
“Given your report’s findings that his memory was significantly limited and that he is a person with ‘diminished faculties’ and with ‘faulty memory,” it makes me wonder how close he is coming to meeting this definition of an incapacitated individual, such that he should have a guardian appointed by the D.C. courts for his personhood,” Moran said.
In contrast, those on the Democratic side disagreed with the characterization of Biden’s mental state, with multiple representatives citing Biden’s performance at the State of the Union address — characterized as “fiery” by some media outlets.
“Congressman Moran, who generally knows better, suggesting that guardianship would be appropriate for Biden is outrageous,” Ivey told the DP. “That is just ridiculous.”
Rep. Darrell Issa (R-Calif.) wrote in a comment to the DP that the hearing was unfavorable for Biden — “both for what he forgot and for what he remembered.”
“By any objective measure, he knowingly broke the law,” Issa wrote.
Democrats argued that Trump’s mental fitness was also of concern. Both Nadler and Rep. Eric Swalwell (D-Calif.) played videos that showed Trump in which he stuttered or his words failed to make sense.
The Penn Biden Center officially opened in February 2018, and served as Biden’s main office in Washington after his term as vice president ended.
The Daily Pennsylvanian is an independent, student-run newspaper. Please consider making a donation to support the coverage that shapes the University. Your generosity ensures a future of strong journalism at Penn.
Donate
