Special Counsel Robert Hur unequivocally corrected Democrats’ claims that his report exonerated President Joe Biden for his mishandling of classified materials.
In February, Hur submitted his report to Attorney General Merrick Garland stating that he would not charge Biden for his handling of classified documents but included stunning revelations of the deterioration of Biden’s mental state that factored into that decision.
Hur, who resigned from the Justice Department a week prior, testified Tuesday before the House Judiciary Committee about his report.
When questioning Hur, Rep. Pramila Jayapal (D-WA) claimed his “lengthy, expensive, and indecent investigation resulted in a complete exoneration of President Joe Biden,” saying Hur found “insufficient evidence the president violated any laws about possession or retention of classified materials.”
Hur attempted to correct her, although Jayapal would not allow him to do so.
“I need to go back and make sure that I take note of the word that you used, exoneration. That is not a word we used in the report and that is not part of my task as a prosecutor,” Hur said over continual interruption from Jayapal, which included “you exonerated him.”
“I did not exonerate him,” Hur stated definitively. “That word does not appear in the report,” at which point Jayapal immediately reclaimed her time, ending the exchange.
Hur provided more clarity under questioning from Rep. Cliff Bentz (R-OR).
“Your report is not an exoneration so much as a determination that the evidence as you saw it would not overcome the defenses that you had identified, plus whatever lack of evidence you perceived,” Bentz said. “So its not an exoneration, is it?”
“The word exoneration does not appear anywhere in my report,” Hur replied, “and that is not my conclusion.”
Hur confirmed Biden’s “willfully retained” classified documents were found in seven places throughout several locations.
Hur described Biden in his report as “an elderly man with a poor memory” but testified that he could not charge the president with “willfully retaining” classified documents. During Biden’s interview with Hur, he could not remember when his son Beau Biden died or when he was vice president, according to a transcript of Hur’s interview obtained by Breitbart News.
Hur told Congress:
My task was to determine whether the President retained or disclosed national defense information “willfully”—meaning, knowingly and with the intent to do something the law forbids. I could not make that determination without assessing the President’s state of mind. For that reason, I 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. We interviewed the President and asked him about his recorded statement, “I just found all the classified stuff downstairs.” He told us that he didn’t remember saying that to his ghostwriter. He also said he didn’t remember finding any classified material in his home after his vice presidency. And he didn’t remember anything about how classified documents about Afghanistan made their way into his garage.
Hur said his responsibility was simply and solely to weigh whether Biden “willfully retained” or disclosed classified documents.
Bradley Jaye is a Capitol Hill Correspondent for Breitbart News. Follow him on X/Twitter at @BradleyAJaye.
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