GOP lawmaker reveals ‘perverse implication’ of Robert Hur’s argument on Trump ‘deterrent effect’
A House GOP lawmaker targeted former Special Counsel Robert Hur over what he called a "perverse implication" that the current prosecution of former President Donald Trump at least partially factored into Hur’s decision not to recommend charges for President Biden.
Hur testified before House lawmakers on Tuesday in a lengthy and, at times, heated hearing on his report — the product of a monthslong investigation into Biden’s handling of classified documents.
Rep. Kevin Kiley, R-Calif., took issue with a part of Hur’s report that downplayed the "deterrent effect" of charging Biden, both because of "little risk he will reoffend" and that "future presidents and vice presidents are already likely to be deterred by the multiple recent criminal investigations, and one prosecution, of current and former presidents and vice presidents for mishandling classified documents."
Kiley argued during the hearing, "The perverse implication here is that the administration, by the very terms of your analysis, actually made it less likely that the president would face charges by [Special Counsel Jack Smith] bringing an indictment [against Trump]."
"I’ll stand by the way and the specific terms in which I characterize my assessment of deterrence value of a case under the principles of federal prosecution," Hur told him just minutes earlier.
Kiley stood by his argument in a brief interview with Fox News Digital on Tuesday afternoon, explaining, "It's the implication that is perverse, because it means that Biden sort of lowered his chances of facing charges when the administration brought charges against former President Trump."
Trump has pleaded not guilty to multiple charges stemming from Smith’s federal investigation into alleged election interference. The U.S. Supreme Court has agreed to review whether Trump has presidential immunity from prosecution in the case.
"I think there's a lot here that's fairly troubling," Kiley said. "That’s why I wanted to sort of bring it to light. I didn't know, maybe, even if Mr. Hur had really thought that through, that particular implication."
"I think that really, broadly, the report was well done. I think that particular factor was not thought through as carefully as it should be."
Meanwhile, Fox News contributor and Georgetown University law professor Jonathan Turley argued that the section of the report suggesting Biden himself was at "little risk" of reoffending is not an accurate conclusion on deterrence.
"The finding seems inherently in conflict with the acknowledgment that Joe Biden continued to remove classified material over 40 years since he was a senator," Turley said. "There was no evidence of deterrence despite repeated warnings given to him by counsel and staff. If anything, that record shows a certain habitual violation of well-known rules on the handling of classified material."
Hur found that Biden did willfully mishandle classified materials but did not recommend charges, citing, in part, that he came off "as a sympathetic, well-meaning, elderly man with a poor memory," and that "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."
Fox News Digital reached out to the Justice Department but did not immediately hear back.
Trump begged Elon Musk to buy Truth Social. That’s not just funny, it’s dangerous
God has had roughly 4,000 years to reload since Sodom and Gomorrah, so it might not be the best idea to put the two worst people on the planet together in the same place—even if that place is Mar-a-Lago. Nevertheless, Trump and aspiring Bond villain Elon Musk have tempted fate at least once, meeting in Palm Beach, Florida, with top Republican donors a little more than a week ago.
That’s been widely reported, of course—as has the fact that Musk reiterated he wouldn’t be donating to Trump or President Biden this cycle. What hasn’t previously been reported is that Trump has been begging Musk for financial favors since at least last summer, even going so far as to ask the multibillionaire if he’d rescue Trump’s social media company, Truth Social, which at the time appeared to be just a few spots ahead of Xwitter in line for the abattoir.
Former president Donald Trump asked Elon Musk last summer whether the billionaire industrialist would be interested in buying Trump’s social network Truth Social, according to two people with knowledge of the conversation.
The overture to Musk, whose business empire includes SpaceX, Tesla and the social networking site X, did not lead to a deal. But the conversation, which has not been previously reported, shows the two men have communicated more than was known. The two have had other conversations, too, Trump advisers say, about politics and business.
Of course, Trump would have loved for Musk—or anyone else, for that matter—to buy Truth Social. It’s been losing money, Lilliputian hand over balled-up angry baby fist, and E. Jean Carroll didn’t even have to sue it.
Just check out these sad financials, which were reported in January:
By the numbers: Truth Social's parent company, Trump Media & Technology Group, generated a total of $3.38 million in revenue for the first nine months of 2023.
- It reports a $49 million net loss during the same period, including around $26 million in Q3.
- The company's cash-on-hand dwindled to just $1.8 million at the end of September, compared to $2.4 million at the end of June, while its total liabilities climbed nearly 72% to $60.5 million.
Oof. Weird that screeching in all caps about how unfair the world is to gold-plated guys who refuse to return top-secret documents to the government and try to topple Western democracy isn’t somehow more profitable.
Ah, but this is America, the land of opportunity for wealthy serial business failures. Despite consistently sucking wind, there’s a light at the end of the tunnel for Goof Social. Last month, the Securities and Exchange Commission finally paved the way for a merger between Trump Media & Technology Group and Digital World Acquisition Corp., the special purpose acquisition company that seeks to partner with Trump’s company.
And despite an 11th-hour lawsuit launched by two of DWAC’s co-founders—who, in the shock of the century, accused Trump of trying to cheat them out of their investment—he stands poised to rake in some badly needed cash. Because it turns out that continually defaming one’s sexual abuse victims and fraudulently running a real estate empire can contribute a lot to one’s operational overhead.
As The New York Times reports, “If shareholders approve the merger, it would give Trump Media more than $300 million in badly needed cash to keep operating. The deal would also boost Mr. Trump’s net worth by more than $3 billion, based on Digital World’s current stock price.” But last summer, when Trump reportedly proposed the sale to Musk, that merger appeared to be in jeopardy over accusations that DWAC had misled investors.
Of course, while the impending merger appears to offer Trump a lifeline as he faces tens of millions of dollars in legal fees and fines, Trump’s willingness to cozy up to sketchy rich guys as he campaigns to become head of the government that would, in theory at least, be charged with holding said rich guys accountable, is alarming.
And these two have sniped at each other in the past—Musk once said Trump should hang up his hat & sail into the sunset,” and Trump responded by claiming Musk’s platform was “perhaps worthless.” So the fact that Trump begged Musk for what would have amounted at the time to a financial bailout is particularly concerning. Because it really points up the transactional nature of basically everything Trump does.
Needless to say, Trump will have some serious potential conflicts of interest if he becomes president again. Worse even than President Joe Biden’s financial entanglements after he loaned his son $4,140 to buy a truck.
“It’s pretty scary from an ethics perspective,” said Virginia Canter, the chief ethics counsel at the Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington, a nonpartisan watchdog group that has chronicled Trump’s abuses of power and filed lawsuits against him.
You don’t have to look far to find the reasons why. Trump’s first term was riddled with conflicts of interest, and that’s in no small part because of his financial well-being (or lack thereof, depending on how you look at it). At the time that he tried to overturn the 2020 election, he was hundreds of millions of dollars in debt, largely stemming from loans to help rehabilitate his struggling businesses, and most of which would be coming due over the subsequent four years. Throughout his presidency, he refused to divest from his businesses, which made millions of dollars in revenue from taxpayers and continued to do work with other countries while he was in office — a practice he indicated he would repeat in a second term.
The fact that he has so many entanglements with big businesses and other nations leaves plenty of room for things to go awry. That’s why a 2020 New York Times exposé uncovering his staggering debt during his first term wasn’t just embarrassing for Trump, who has a tendency to claim he’s richer than he actually is. It also raised fears about how his debt could implicate national security.
National security was pretty much flushed as soon as Trump dumped dozens of boxes of national secrets into the Mar-a-Lago shitter.
But it could always get worse.
Imagine the kinds of deals a desperate Trump might make while in office—or before then. After all, while the merger between Trump’s company and DWAC will almost certainly go through now, Trump will be barred from selling any of his shares for another six months. And if past is prologue, those shares could be worth less than your Aunt Martha’s Beanie Baby collection by this Christmas.
Is it so hard to imagine, say, Vladimir Putin finding some way to keep Trump afloat in the interim, in exchange for an even sweeter deal on Ukraine? And if not Putin, how about anyone else in a position to leverage a relationship of convenience with a sitting U.S. president?
Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington:
Giving the highest and most powerful office in the land to someone deeply in debt and looking for ways to make back hundreds of millions of dollars he lost in court is a recipe for the kinds of corruption that aren’t theoretical when it comes to Trump. There’s a reason that you can’t get a job in the military or the financial services industry, or even referee a major sporting event, if you have a massive amount of debt. And you certainly aren’t getting a security clearance because you become too big of a target for corruption.
Trump’s corruption has always brought with it a threat to national security because he viewed the office of the president as one of self-service rather than public service. He routinely used his position to give paying customers access to the highest officials in the country. He even allowed three Mar-a-Lago members with no government or military experience to shape his administration’s veterans policies in secret. And his first impeachment revolved around Trump’s use of national security aid to Ukraine as leverage for dirt on his political opponent. Even after leaving office, Trump reportedly shared classified nuclear submarine information with an Australian billionaire who only became a Mar-a-Lago member to ingratiate himself with the American president, paying generously to attend galas Trump would attend, while in private saying Trump does business “like the mafia.”
Despite his financial ups and downs in office, one thing remained remarkably consistent: Trump’s laser focus on using the presidency to line his pockets.
In other words? If you thought Trump was a national security threat now, just wait until the Navy’s Sixth Fleet is dispatched to protect Elon Musk’s secret volcano lair—or destroy it, depending on whether the check clears in time.
Check out Aldous J. Pennyfarthing’s four-volume Trump-trashing compendium, including the finale, Goodbye, Asshat: 101 Farewell Letters to Donald Trump, at this link.
The guy who fetches Donald Trump’s Diet Cokes is innocent, after all. And the dude who’s paid tuppence to baste him in the upstairs bath has already been punished enough.
Campaign ActionBiden impeachment effort starting to ‘lose steam,’ House Republicans say
House Republicans are growing increasingly skeptical of whether their push to impeach President Biden will succeed.
"I don't think we have the will to impeach Joe Biden. … We just don't. We’ve got a two-seat majority. You've got some guys in these tough districts that don't want to alienate maybe independents or moderates," Rep. Troy Nehls, R-Texas, told Fox News Digital.
"They've laid out a good case for impeaching Joe Biden … but I just don't think we have the will to do it."
Each of the GOP lawmakers who spoke with Fox News Digital expressed the belief that what the investigation has uncovered looks bad for Biden, but even those who think it rises to the level of high crimes and misdemeanors were unsure the House would see an impeachment vote.
FBI INFORMANT CHARGED WITH GIVING FALSE INFORMATION ABOUT HUNTER BIDEN IN 2020
Several noted that House Republicans' razor-thin two-seat majority has made it difficult to pass significant legislation in the past.
"That’s always a question with everything," Rep. Greg Murphy, R-N.C., said of the numbers. "We have some folks who love to scream, rant and rave and have gotten all involved in their ego. You never know where those folks are going to come out one moment or the other."
He added, "I do surely think there's evidence there."
Another GOP lawmaker granted anonymity to speak freely agreed the impeachment push has lost momentum, chalking it up to the hectic environment of a presidential election year.
BIDEN, NOT SPECIAL COUNSEL HUR, BROUGHT UP SON'S DEATH IN QUESTIONING
"I think it was always going to lose steam. I think as soon as we transitioned into a formal presidential election, I don't know that it was going to continue with the same fervor," the GOP lawmaker said.
Asked about the amount of skepticism within the conference over actually voting to impeach Biden, they said, "I’m not the one to worry about, but there are dozens of others."
Rep. Don Bacon, R-Neb., who represents a district Biden won in 2020, noted investigators have not yet uncovered a smoking gun but defended the inquiry as a fact-finding mission.
SPECIAL COUNSEL ROBERT HUR TO TESTIFY PUBLICLY AT HOUSE HEARING ON BIDEN CLASSIFIED RECORDS PROBE
"When the staff tells you that they can't identify a particular crime, that's a problem. But we should welcome the investigation. It's more about letting the voters know the truth," Bacon said.
The House voted to formalize their impeachment inquiry into Biden in mid-December, with every member of the Republican Conference supporting the investigation. The House Oversight Committee is now leading a joint investigation with the House Judiciary and Ways and Means committees into whether Biden used his former position as vice president to enrich himself and his family – claims the White House has denied.
Fox News Digital reached out to the White House for comment.
The House GOP’s margin for error is on track to shrink to just one vote
Hah oh man! House Speaker Mike Johnson’s epic struggles to count votes and keep his caucus in line are about to get a whole lot rougher.
One of Johnson’s least-favorite members, Colorado Rep. Ken Buck, just announced that he’s resigning next week. How least-favorite? Johnson says that Buck—who had already said back in November that he wouldn’t seek reelection—didn’t even inform him ahead of time, reports Politico’s Olivia Beavers.
But intra-party hostilities aside, what matters most is how Buck’s departure affects Johnson’s math. In short, it’s not good.
At the moment, there are 219 Republicans in the House and 213 Democrats. This means that on any given vote, the GOP can afford a maximum of two defections. If three Republicans switch sides to join with Democrats on a particular roll call, then whatever is up for a vote dies, because a 216-216 tie is the same as a loss.
When Buck leaves, that margin will slip to 218-213. But on April 30, Democrats are the heavy favorites to regain one seat in the special election for upstate New York’s vacant 26th District, a solidly blue seat in the Buffalo area. That would take the House to 218-214, and then things get really interesting.
That’s because it would take just two Republicans to tank any vote as long as Democrats stick together, which they have with remarkable consistency. Once again, a 216-all tie sinks any GOP bill, resolution, impeachment—what have you.
In other words, Johnson’s magic number would shrink to exactly one vote. That is to say, if more than one Republican representative has some kind of grievance with the speaker, or the legislation being proposed, or just woke up grumpy that morning, then boom, dead, done. To the extent Johnson has any agenda he might hope to advance, it would take only two dissenters to derail it.
Now, there’s a possible wrinkle: The vacant seat that once belonged to the hapless pol Johnson succeeded as speaker—Kevin McCarthy—will also see a special election next week. However, if no one wins a majority of the vote, then there would be a runoff in late May. And there’s very good reason to think that’s exactly what will happen, because, following last week’s regularly scheduled primary, the first-place candidate (funny enough, a McCarthy protégé) is sitting on just 38% of the vote.
Of course, Johnson will still pray that McCarthy’s seat gets filled as quickly as possible, however poor the odds. Because the only thing worse is the math he’ll face if it doesn’t.
Campaign ActionEx-Trump aide sued by Hunter Biden wants Biden-appointed judge off laptop case, fears ‘2020 all over again’
Garrett Ziegler, a one-time aide to former President Trump who is being sued by Hunter Biden for publishing the contents of his infamous laptop, is seeking to have a judge who was appointed by President Biden removed from the case. Ziegler argues that the outcome of the lawsuit not only has implications for the congressional impeachment inquiry, but also the 2024 election.
In a recent motion in U.S. District Court for Central California, Ziegler's attorney, Robert Tyler, requested that Judge Hernán D. Vera recuse himself from the case because his "impartiality will be reasonably questioned." Vera made donations to Joe Biden’s campaign for president in 2020. He also was appointed to his position by President Biden just three months before Hunter Biden filed the lawsuit against Ziegler and one day after then-House Speaker Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., announced a presidential impeachment inquiry had commenced in Congress.
Tyler emphasized that he is not arguing against Vera's integrity and assumes the court system assigned the judge to Hunter Biden's lawsuit at random.
"But there’s something called forum shopping that lawyers do," he told Fox News Digital. "And here’s a case where our client resides in Illinois, he has no contact with California such that California should have any jurisdiction over this case, yet Hunter Biden’s lawyers filed this lawsuit to the Central District of California just shortly after Judge Vera’s appointed."
Fox News Digital reached out to Biden's legal team for comment on Tuesday.
The relief requested in Hunter Biden’s complaint would prevent and inhibit the public, media and Congress from accessing highly relevant evidence to the impeachment inquiry of President Biden, the motion says. Ziegler's attorney further argued that Vera must recuse himself from the case "because the district court rulings in this case may affect the impeachment inquiry along with the future presidency of Joseph Biden, toward which Judge Vera made a financial investment and for which Judge Vera has an obvious interest and affinity."
"The availability of the information from the Hunter Biden laptop is incredibly important so that we don’t have 2020 all over again where somehow the Biden laptop is brushed under the rug and ignored or worse yet, it's censored," Tyler told Fox News Digital on Tuesday, referring to how the Hunter Biden laptop story was dismissed as "Russian disinformation" by a large portion of the media and suppressed by social media platforms. "That’s important I think not only to the presidential impeachment inquiry but also to the election."
Tyler's motion criticizes how Hunter Biden filed the lawsuit against Ziegler, his company – Marco Polo USA – and 10 unidentified associates in September 2023, in the middle of his father’s re-election campaign and nearly three years after the dissemination of files emanating from the laptop he "abandoned" at a Delaware computer repair shop. The repair shop owner turned the laptop over to the FBI on or around October 2019 after discovering its "disturbing materials," the motion notes.
Hunter Biden’s lawsuit accused Ziegler and others of spreading "tens of thousands of emails, thousands of photos, and dozens of videos and recordings" that were considered "pornographic" on the laptop. The lawsuit describes Ziegler as a "zealot who has waged a sustained, unhinged and obsessed campaign" against the entire Biden family for over two years to "advance his right-wing agenda" and spent hours "accessing, tampering with, manipulating or copying" Hunter Biden’s data with his associates.
The lawsuit seeks a jury trial based on the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act and California's Comprehensive Computer Data Access and Fraud Act.
Ziegler’s attorney counters that the former Trump aide and associates "prepared a credible investigative report," known as the "Report on the Biden Laptop," not to wage a campaign against Hunter Biden, but to "expose instances of foreign compromise" by Hunter Biden and his father, President Biden, which are "matters of great public interest and concern." In preparing the report, Ziegler relied on copies of files from the laptop that "had already been widely circulated since at least October 2020 to numerous media outlets," Tyler wrote.
The motion states that Ziegler’s website with the Biden laptop report has been accessed by over 5 million Americans since its inception in June 2023 and more than 8 million Americans have accessed the free digital version of the report made available in November 2022.
"Millions upon millions of visitors have come to this website for information," Tyler said. "The information on this website is not altered except to the extent to black out genitals. Other than that, the content of the website, according to my client, has not been altered or manipulated, and so this information is critical, I believe, to the availability for the public, for the media and for Congress itself to be able to access and determine whether or not this president is one we should bring back in 2024, 2025."
Tyler noted how Marco Polo provided background research to the House Oversight, Judiciary and Ways and Means Committees related to the Biden impeachment inquiry.
During a recent House Oversight and Accountability Committee hearing related to Hunter Biden’s refusal to attend a congressional deposition pertaining to his father’s impeachment inquiry, Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, R-Ga., presented exhibits of evidence she received directly from Ziegler and other defendants, the motion says.
Rep. Jamie Raskin, D-Md., then requested that the Democrats on the committee be provided the Biden laptop files. Rep. Anna Paulina Luna, R-Fla., interjected that she can provide every Democrat a copy because "Marco Polo has the actual, entire publication."
"You mentioned you wanted to read some stuff, that would probably be something good to read, the Marco Polo Report," Chairman Rep. James Comer, R-Ky., added. "It’s public record."
GOP Colorado Rep. Ken Buck will resign from Congress by end of next week
Colorado U.S. Representative Ken Buck announced on Tuesday that he will resign from the House by the end of next week.
Buck told Fox News he will remain a member until the end of the day on March 22. That same day is also the deadline for the next batch of spending bills to avoid a shutdown.
In a brief statement sent Tuesday morning, the Republican said his terms in office were an honor, and he is looking forward to staying involved in politics.
"It has been an honor to serve the people of Colorado’s 4th District in Congress for the past 9 years. I want to thank them for their support and encouragement throughout the years. Today, I am announcing that I will depart Congress at the end of next week," Buck wrote in his release. "I look forward to staying involved in our political process, as well as spending more time in Colorado and with my family."
HOUSE GOP LEADERS TEAR UP BIDEN'S NEW $7.3T BUDGET PROPOSAL
Buck has served in the U.S. House of Representatives since November 2014 and is currently assigned to the House Judiciary Committee and Foreign Affairs Committee.
Two weeks ago, Buck introduced a resolution that calls on Vice President Kamala Harris and the Cabinet to remove President Biden through the 25th Amendment, citing Biden’s mental and physical health.
Buck was also one of three House Republicans who opposed the impeachment of Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas.
HOUSE GOP EXPOSES 'WOKE' ITEMS IN BIDEN'S $7.3 TRILLION BUDGET
Buck previously announced he was not running for another term. His resignation will squeeze the GOP's majority even more.
The breakdown will be 431 members with 218 Republicans and 213 Democrats. Now, the GOP will only be able to lose two votes of their own on any given issue.
CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP
The next special election is for the seat occupied by former Rep. Brian Higgins, D-N.Y., on April 30.
If that seat stays in Democratic hands, the new breakdown is 432 members with 218 Republicans and 214 Democrats. That would mean the margin would effectively be one seat for the GOP.
Flip two votes, and you have a tie, and by rule, tie votes lose in the House.
A special election to succeed former House Speaker Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., is set for May 21.
Hur testifies he ‘did identify evidence’ that ‘pride and money’ motivated Biden to retain classified records
Ex-Special Counsel Robert Hur agreed that he identified evidence that "pride and money" were "strong" motivating factors for President Biden to retain classified records, as the former vice president sought to keep materials to use for a memoir he wrote that brought him $8 million.
House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jim Jordan questioned Hur during a public hearing Tuesday and asked him "why did Joe Biden, in your words, willfully retain and disclose classified material?"
"He knew the law. Been in office like 50 years, five decades in the United States Senate; chairman of the Foreign Relations Committee; eight years as vice president; he got briefed every day as vice president; he’s been in the Situation Room," Jordan said. "In fact you know he knew the rules because you said so on page 226."
Jordan referred to Hur’s report, in which he stated that Biden "was deeply familiar with the measures taken to safeguard classified documents."
When pressed on why Biden broke those rules, Hur replied that his "conclusion as to exactly why the president did what he did is not one that we explicitly address in the report."
But Jordan pushed back.
"I think he did tell us," Jordan said. "I think you told us, Mr. Hur. Page 231. You said this: ‘President Biden had strong motivations,’ that’s a key word. We’re getting to motive now. ‘President Biden had strong motivations to ignore the proper procedures for safeguarding the classified information in his notebooks.’"
"Why did he have strong motivations? Because, next word, because he decided months before leaving office to write a book," Jordan said. "That was his motive. He knew the rules. He broke them because he was writing a book."
Jordan reminded that Hur explained that Biden "began meeting with the ghostwriter" for that book while he was still vice president.
"There’s the motive," Jordan said. "How much did President Biden get paid for his book."
Hur noted that the figure is stated in the report, and replied: "It may be $8 million, if that’s accurate."
"$8 million. Joe Biden had 8 million reasons to break the rules, took classified information, and shared it with the guy who was writing the book," Jordan said. "He knew the rules, but he broke them big for $8 million in a book advance."
Jordan, quoting Hur’s report, said Biden "viewed his notebooks as an irreplaceable, contemporaneous record of the most important moments of his vice presidency."
"He’d written this all down for the book, for the $8 million," Jordan said, further quoting Hur’s report which stated: "Such record would buttress his legacy as a world leader."
Jordan said that the breaking of the rules "wasn’t just the money."
"It was also his ego," Jordan said. "Pride and money is why he knowingly violated the rules — the oldest motives in the book — pride and money."
Jordan added: "You agree with that, Mr. Hur? You wrote it in your report."
Hur replied: "That language does appear in the report. And we did identify evidence supporting those assessments."
Hur's report said that Biden risked "serious damage" to America's national security when he shared the classified information with the ghostwriter of his book.
Hur testified that ghostwriter, Mark Zwonitzer, had audio recordings of his conversations with Biden, in which the then-vice president read information from classified records.
BIDEN FUZZY ON DATES, FUMBLED DETAILS IN INTERVIEWS WITH SPECIAL COUNSEL HUR
With those recordings, though, Hur testified that Zwonitzer "slid those files into his recycle bin on his computer" upon learning that a special counsel had been appointed to investigate the matter.
Jordan asked if the ghostwriter tried to "destroy the evidence."
"Correct," Hur testified.
"The very guy who was helping Joe Biden get the $8 million, $8 million Joe Biden used — the motive for Joe Biden to to disclose classified information to retain classified information, which he definitely knew was against the law, When you get named special counsel, what's that guy do? He destroys the evidence," Jordan said. "That's the key take away in my mind. That's the key takeaway."
Hur testifies Biden ‘willfully retained classified materials,’ but prosecutors ‘had to consider’ mental state
Ex-Special Counsel Robert Hur testified Tuesday that President Biden "willfully retained classified materials," but said he "had to consider" the president’s "memory and overall mental state" when determining whether to bring charges against him.
Hur, who testified publicly before the House Judiciary and Oversight Committees Tuesday, explained that he did not bring charges against the president despite the willful retention of classified records about military and foreign policy in Afghanistan and other countries, among other records related to national security and foreign policy, which Hur said implicated "sensitive intelligence sources and methods."
"My team and I conducted a thorough, independent investigation," Hur testified. "We identified evidence that the President willfully retained classified materials after the end of his vice presidency, when he was a private citizen."
"This evidence included an audiorecorded conversation during which Mr. Biden told his ghostwriter that he had ‘just found all the classified stuff downstairs.' When Mr. Biden said this, he was a private citizen speaking to his ghostwriter in his private rental home in Virginia," Hur continued. "We also identified other recorded conversations during which Mr. Biden read classified information aloud to his ghostwriter."
He added, though, that "we did not, however, identify evidence that rose to the level of proof beyond a reasonable doubt. Because the evidence fell short of that standard, I declined to recommend criminal charges against Mr. Biden."
But Hur said he "needed to explain why" he declined prosecution.
"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," Hur testified. "These are the types of issues prosecutors analyze every day. 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."
Hur, in his report, described Biden as a "sympathetic, well-meaning elderly man with a poor memory" — a description that has raised significant concerns for Biden's 2024 re-election campaign.
"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," Hur said. "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 defended himself, though, saying his 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. I did not sanitize my explanation. Nor did I disparage the President unfairly," Hur testified. "I explained to the Attorney General my decision and the reasons for it. That’s what I was required to do."
Hur’s opening statement came after House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jim Jordan began the hearing by playing a video of Biden speaking about the former special counsel’s report the day it was released.
"Mr. Hur produced a 345-page report. But in the end, it boils down to a few key facts. Joe Biden kept classified information," Jordan said. "Joe Biden failed to properly secure classified information. And Joe Biden shared classified information with people he wasn't supposed to.
"We're going to play a short video of President Biden's press conference after your report was released," Jordan added. "Because there's things in this press conference that the United States says that are directly contradicted by what you found in your report."
A transcript of President Biden's interviews with Robert Hur appears to contradict Biden's claim that the former Special Counsel had asked him about the date of Beau Biden's death.
BIDEN FUZZY ON DATES, FUMBLED DETAILS IN INTERVIEWS WITH SPECIAL COUNSEL HUR
But Ranking Member Jerrold Nadler, D-N.Y., blasted former President Trump — who was charged by Special Counsel Jack Smith related to his alleged mishandling of classified records. Trump pleaded not guilty.
The former president and presumptive 2024 GOP nominee posted on Truth Social before Hur’s testimony, saying the Justice Department gave Biden a "free pass."
"Big day in Congress for the Biden Documents Hoax," Trump wrote on his Truth Social account. "He had many times more documents, including classified documents, than I, or any other president, had. He had them all over the place, with ZERO supervision or security. He does NOT come under the Presidential Records Act, I DO."
"The DOJ gave Biden, and virtually every other person and President, a free pass. Me, I’m still fighting!!!" Trump added.
Trump, on the other hand, was charged out of Special Counsel Jack Smith's investigation related to his retention of classified materials. Trump pleaded not guilty to all 37 felony charges out of Smith's probe. The charges include willful retention of national defense information, conspiracy to obstruct justice and false statements.
Nadler played a video of clips of Trump speaking, putting into question his "mental state."
"That is a man who is incapable of avoiding criminal liability. A man who is wholly unfit for office… a man who, at the very least ought to think twice before accusing others of cognitive decline," Nadler said of Trump, adding that Hur’s report "represents the complete and total exoneration of President Biden."
Meanwhile, House Oversight Committee Chairman James Comer, R-Ky., in his opening statement reminded that his panel has subpoenaed ex-White House counsel Dana Remus, and tied Hur’s testimony into the larger House impeachment inquiry against the president.
Comer, for months, has been demanding answers on whether the classified records Biden improperly retained were related to countries that his family did business with.
House Oversight Committee Ranking Member Jamie Raskin, D-Md., though, piggy-backed Nadler’s opening statement, bringing the conversation back to Donald Trump.
This is a developing story. Please check back for updates.
Hur testifies Biden ‘willfully retained classified materials,’ but prosecutors ‘had to consider’ mental state
Ex-Special Counsel Robert Hur testified Tuesday that President Biden "willfully retained classified materials," but said he "had to consider" the president’s "memory and overall mental state" when determining whether to bring charges against him.
Hur, who testified publicly before the House Judiciary and Oversight Committees Tuesday, explained that he did not bring charges against the president despite the willful retention of classified records about military and foreign policy in Afghanistan and other countries, among other records related to national security and foreign policy, which Hur said implicated "sensitive intelligence sources and methods."
"My team and I conducted a thorough, independent investigation," Hur testified. "We identified evidence that the President willfully retained classified materials after the end of his vice presidency, when he was a private citizen."
"This evidence included an audiorecorded conversation during which Mr. Biden told his ghostwriter that he had ‘just found all the classified stuff downstairs.' When Mr. Biden said this, he was a private citizen speaking to his ghostwriter in his private rental home in Virginia," Hur continued. "We also identified other recorded conversations during which Mr. Biden read classified information aloud to his ghostwriter."
He added, though, that "we did not, however, identify evidence that rose to the level of proof beyond a reasonable doubt. Because the evidence fell short of that standard, I declined to recommend criminal charges against Mr. Biden."
But Hur said he "needed to explain why" he declined prosecution.
"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," Hur testified. "These are the types of issues prosecutors analyze every day. 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."
Hur, in his report, described Biden as a "sympathetic, well-meaning elderly man with a poor memory" — a description that has raised significant concerns for Biden's 2024 re-election campaign.
"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," Hur said. "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 defended himself, though, saying his 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. I did not sanitize my explanation. Nor did I disparage the President unfairly," Hur testified. "I explained to the Attorney General my decision and the reasons for it. That’s what I was required to do."
Hur’s opening statement came after House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jim Jordan began the hearing by playing a video of Biden speaking about the former special counsel’s report the day it was released.
"Mr. Hur produced a 345-page report. But in the end, it boils down to a few key facts. Joe Biden kept classified information," Jordan said. "Joe Biden failed to properly secure classified information. And Joe Biden shared classified information with people he wasn't supposed to.
"We're going to play a short video of President Biden's press conference after your report was released," Jordan added. "Because there's things in this press conference that the United States says that are directly contradicted by what you found in your report."
A transcript of President Biden's interviews with Robert Hur appears to contradict Biden's claim that the former Special Counsel had asked him about the date of Beau Biden's death.
BIDEN FUZZY ON DATES, FUMBLED DETAILS IN INTERVIEWS WITH SPECIAL COUNSEL HUR
But Ranking Member Jerrold Nadler, D-N.Y., blasted former President Trump — who was charged by Special Counsel Jack Smith related to his alleged mishandling of classified records. Trump pleaded not guilty.
The former president and presumptive 2024 GOP nominee posted on Truth Social before Hur’s testimony, saying the Justice Department gave Biden a "free pass."
"Big day in Congress for the Biden Documents Hoax," Trump wrote on his Truth Social account. "He had many times more documents, including classified documents, than I, or any other president, had. He had them all over the place, with ZERO supervision or security. He does NOT come under the Presidential Records Act, I DO."
"The DOJ gave Biden, and virtually every other person and President, a free pass. Me, I’m still fighting!!!" Trump added.
Trump, on the other hand, was charged out of Special Counsel Jack Smith's investigation related to his retention of classified materials. Trump pleaded not guilty to all 37 felony charges out of Smith's probe. The charges include willful retention of national defense information, conspiracy to obstruct justice and false statements.
Nadler played a video of clips of Trump speaking, putting into question his "mental state."
"That is a man who is incapable of avoiding criminal liability. A man who is wholly unfit for office… a man who, at the very least ought to think twice before accusing others of cognitive decline," Nadler said of Trump, adding that Hur’s report "represents the complete and total exoneration of President Biden."
Meanwhile, House Oversight Committee Chairman James Comer, R-Ky., in his opening statement reminded that his panel has subpoenaed ex-White House counsel Dana Remus, and tied Hur’s testimony into the larger House impeachment inquiry against the president.
Comer, for months, has been demanding answers on whether the classified records Biden improperly retained were related to countries that his family did business with.
House Oversight Committee Ranking Member Jamie Raskin, D-Md., though, piggy-backed Nadler’s opening statement, bringing the conversation back to Donald Trump.
This is a developing story. Please check back for updates.