(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 today 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, 11:44 AM
Hur testifies Biden never said documents were ‘his’
Special counsel Robert Hur said that President Biden did not say that he believed any documents — other than his own handwritten notes — were his personal property, in contrast to former President Trump who has claimed multiple times that he held onto hundreds of classified documents because they were “my documents.”
“We did not hear that from the president during his interview,” Hur said, responding to Rep. Zoe Lofgren who asked if Biden believed any of the documents turned over to investigators were, in fact, his own.
Rep. Jordan then began his line of questioning to Hur by pressing him over whether he ever determined what President Biden’s motive was in the evidence that he uncovered that he possessed classified documents.
“Congressman, the conclusion as to exactly why the president did what he did is not one that we explicitly address in the report,” Hur answered. “The report explains my decision to the attorney general that no criminal charges were warranted in this manner.”
Chairman Jim Jordan, R-Ohio, then sought to draw a connection between Biden’s efforts to secure money for a book deal following his vice presidency and Hur’s findings regarding his possession of classified documents.
“Pride and money is why he knowingly violated the rules,” Jordan said. “The oldest motives in the book, pride and money.”
Hur confirmed that his investigation found evidence “supporting those assessments” and also confirmed details from his report that the ghostwriter tasked by Biden with writing his book attempted to delete the audio recordings of his conversations with Biden.
Mar 12, 11:34 AM
Hur stays measured as he’s challenged by both sides
More than an hour into his testimony, Robert Hur appears poised under intense questioning from both sides — swatting away lawmakers seeking to leverage his testimony in order to incriminate the other party’s leader.
As lawmakers invoke fascism and level accusations of a two-tiered justice system, the former special counsel is striking a decidedly measured posture.
He has not indulged Democrats’ attempts to draw him into comparisons between Biden and Trump — at times appearing to frustrate some members, including Democratic Rep. Jerry Nadler. And he has not taken the bait from Republicans seeking to draw out details that could paint Joe Biden’s conduct in a more negative light.
As he promised in his opening statement, Hur has restricted his testimony to the confines of his report.
Mar 12, 11:21 AM
Hur pressed on whether it’s ‘OK’ to keep secret documents
Rep. Tom McClintock, R-CA, used his line of questioning to press Hur over whether it was “OK if I take home top secret documents, store them in my garage and read portions of them to friends or associates?”
“Congressman, I wouldn’t recommend it,” Hur said dryly. “But I don’t want to entertain any hypotheticals.”
“But you’ve essentially said so in your report!” McClintock responded. “And certainly it would be exculpatory if I simply told you, ‘Hey, I’m getting old. I don’t remember stuff the way I used to.'”
McClintock then argued that Hur had decided not to prosecute Biden “for the same offense” Trump has been charged with in his case involving unlawful retention of classified materials and efforts to obstruct the government’s investigation — even though Biden was not accused of obstruction.
“Congressman, I do address as I was required to as a prosecutor a relevant precedent in the form of the allegations in the indictment against former President Trump,” Hur said. “I set forth my explanation in my assessment and comparison to those precedents in my report, and I am not here to comment any further.”
Mar 12, 11:14 AM
Under questioning, Hur stands by not charging Biden
Under questioning from lawmakers, Republicans pressed Hur on how the evidence he gathered failed to indicate criminal behavior, while Democrats pressed him on comparisons between Biden’s conduct and Trump’s.
Rep. Kelly Armstrong, R-ND, began by outlining some of the underlying facts of Hur’s investigation into Biden’s handling of classified documents — probing his determination that Biden shouldn’t be charged with “willfully retaining national defense information,” even as his report outlined evidence of various instances where he said Biden either knew he had classified materials or discussed having it with his ghostwriter.
“Congressman, part and parcel of a prosecutor’s judgment as to whether or not a conviction is the probable outcome of trial is assessing how the evidence identified during the investigation lines up with the elements and what proof can be offered to a jury during a trial,” Hur said.
“Sure, but this well-meaning elderly old man has nothing to do with the underlying elements of the crime?” Armstrong asked.
“It certainly has something to do with the way that a jury is going to perceive and receive and consider and conclude — make conclusions based on evidence at trial,” Hur responded.
Hur swatted away questions from Rep. Jerry Nadler, the ranking Democrat on the panel, who multiple times looked to have the special counsel comment or compare Biden’s handling of documents to Trump’s own legal issues.
Hur replied when specifically about allegations against Trump, “I am not intimately familiar with the facts relating to former President Trump.”
Mar 12, 10:58 AM
Hur defends his characterization of Biden’s memory
In his opening statement, former special counsel Robert Hur defended how he characterized Joe Biden’s memory in his report on the president’s handling of classified documents released in February.
“My assessment in the report about the relevance of the president’s memory was necessary and accurate and fair,” Hur said. “I did not sanitize my explanation.”
Hur addressed his criticism of Biden’s memory in the report head on, saying, “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 added, “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 went on to argue that 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.”
“These are the types of issues prosecutors analyze every day,” Hur said. “And because these issues were important to my ultimate decision, I had to include a discussion of them in my report to the attorney general.”
Mar 12, 10:51 AM
Hearing opens with dueling videos of Biden, Trump
“Did Joe Biden unlawfully retained classified information? The answer? Yes, he did,” House Judiciary Chairman Jim Jordan, R-Ohio, said in opening the hearing. “Page one of Mr. Hur’s report he says this: ‘Our investigation uncovered evidence that President Biden willfully retained and disclosed classified materials after his vice presidency when he was a private citizen.'”
Yet while it’s true that Hur’s report stated he found evidence that Biden retained classified information, he stopped short of concluding Biden knowingly violated the law and determined he would not be able to prove Biden’s guilt to a jury beyond a reasonable doubt.
Jordan then played out video clips of Biden responding to the findings in Hur’s report, saying he expects today’s hearing will give Hur a chance to respond to Biden’s statements that either downplayed Hur’s findings or attacked him directly.
Rep. Jerry Nadler, the ranking Democrat on the panel, sought to highlight discrepancies in Biden’s conduct compared with former President Donald Trump’s, saying, “Simply put, President Biden had the mental acuity to navigate this situation. President Trump did not.”
Nadler then played a lengthy clip reel of Trump’s perceived verbal slips on the campaign trail, saying. “That is a man who is incapable of avoiding criminal liability. A man who is wholly unfit for office, and a man who, at the very least, ought to think twice before accusing other of cognitive decline.”
At the end of the Trump clip reel, some lawmakers, including some Republicans, were observed snickering at his remarks.
Mar 12, 10:35 AM
Numbers refute Trump’s claim that Biden had ‘more documents’
Former President Donald Trump is again making claims about President Biden’s handling of classified documents while defending his own handling of classified materials. On his social media platform, Trump claimed Biden had “more documents, including classified documents” that were left unsupervised, again saying Biden wasn’t covered under the Presidential Records Act.
Trump, however, was found to have roughly 340 documents with classification markings at his Mar-a-Lago estate, while President Biden had 88 documents with classification markings in his home.
Trump also said that the documents he had were secure compared to the Biden documents that Trump said had “ZERO supervision or security.” But special counsel Jack Smith, who is overseeing the Trump classified documents probe, has noted in public court filings that “Whatever risks are posed by storing documents in a private garage … are dwarfed by the risks of storing documents at ‘an active social club’ with ‘hundreds of members” and ‘more than 150 full-time, part-time, and temporary employees,’ which, between January 2021 and August 2022, ‘hosted more than 150 social events … that together drew tens of thousands of guests.'”
Hur himself said in his report that, “Most notably, after being given multiple chances to return classified documents and avoid prosecution, Mr. Trump allegedly did the opposite. According to the indictment, he not only refused to return the documents for many months, but he also obstructed justice by enlisting others to destroy evidence and then to lie about it.”
“In contrast, Mr. Biden turned in classified documents to the National Archives and the Department of Justice, consented to the search of multiple locations including his homes, sat for a voluntary interview. and in other ways cooperated with the investigation,” Hur’s report said.
Mar 12, 10:09 AM
Hur arrives at hearing
Former special counsel Robert Hur has arrived at the hearing and is seated in front of the House Judiciary Committee.
There are a handful of protesters in the hearing with what appears to be fake blood on their hands.
One is wearing a shirt that reads, “Congress funds Israel genocide.”
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.
-ABC News’ Mary Bruce and Benjamin Siegel
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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