On Tuesday, Special Counsel Robert Hur testified in a House Judiciary hearing about his report detailing President Joe Biden’s handling of classified documents.
In the hearing, California Democrat Rep. Adam Schiff took aim at Hur for creating a “political firestorm” with his report, which raised serious questions about Biden’s memory.
Predictably, Schiff threw a fit about Hur’s details about Biden’s failing memory, which could jeopardize the president winning reelection. In his opening questions, Schiff claimed that Hur intentionally tried to “disparage” Biden and that he made a “generalized statement” about Biden’s memory.
“Congressman, I could have written my report, theoretically, in a way that omitted references to the president’s memory but that would have been an incomplete and improper report,” Hur responded.
“You could have written your report with comments about his specific recollection as to documents, a set of documents, but you chose a general, pejorative reference to the president. You understood when you made that decision…that you would ignite a political firestorm with that language, didn’t you?” Schiff claimed.
Hur responded that politics did not play a role in his report.
“Mr. Hur, you cannot tell me you’re so naive as to think your words would not have created a political firestorm. You understood that, didnt you? When you wrote those words? When you decided to go beyond specific references to documents? You understood how they would be manipulated by my colleagues here on the GOP side of the aisle and by President Trump. You understood that, did you not?” Schiff said condescendingly to Hur.
“Congressman, what I understood were the regulations that govern my conduct as special counsel,” Hur retorted.
Schiff interjected: “Those regulations –
“Those regulations required me to write a confidential report to the attorney general–”
“Which you knew would not be confidential, which you knew…Mr. Hur, you knew it would not be confidential. Which you knew would be released.”
“It was up to the attorney general to determine which portions of the report would be released, consistent with DOJ policy…I understood from the attorney general’s public comments that he would make as much of my report public as he could consistent with legal requirements and DOJ policy,” Hur said.
Schiff: You cannot tell me you are so naive to understand your words would create a political firestorm? You understood how they would be manipulated by my colleagues here on the GOP side of the aisle and president trump. You understand that, did you not? pic.twitter.com/t4hrXLBeVR
— Acyn (@Acyn) March 12, 2024
“What you did write was deeply prejudicial for the interest of the president and you say it wasn’t political and yet you must have understood the impact of your words…when you knew it would be amplified by his political opponent, when you knew it would influence a political campaign,” the congressman added.
“What you are suggesting, is that I needed to provide a different version of my report that would be fit for public release. That is nowhere in the rules,” Hur said.
“You were not born yesterday; you understood exactly what you were doing,” Schiff continued.
“What you are suggesting is I shape, sanitize, omit portions of my reasoning and explanation to the attorney general for political reasons,” Hur responded before Schiff's time ran out.