Biden lawyer calls special counsel Hur’s report ‘off the rails’

Special counsel Robert Hur released report on Thursday about investigation into alleged mishandling of classified Obama-era materials at two private locations

Biden addresses special counsel classified documents report

Joe Biden’s lawyer called special counsel Robert Hur’s report commenting in part on the president’s age and health “off the rails” and “shabby” on Sunday.

An angry and animated Joe Biden previously hit back at the Republican prosecutor’s claim that his memory is faulty during a last-minute and at-times chaotic press conference on Thursday.

The president hit out at parts of the report released earlier in the day by Justice Department special counsel Robert Hur into his handling of classified documents and became infuriated at a suggestion that he did not remember the year his late son, Beau Biden, died from brain cancer.

On Friday, Kamala Harris joined the White House fight back, slamming the report as “politically motivated”, and saying she found details in it “gratuitous, inaccurate and inappropriate”.

She said she has been “privileged and proud to serve as vice president of the United States” under Mr Biden, and said Mr Hur’s remarks on Mr Biden’s age and memory were “gratuitous, inaccurate, and inappropriate”.

Mr Hur’s report concluded that Mr Biden will not face charges for “willfully” holding onto documents after he left office as Barack Obama’s vice president in January 2017.

The report, which was delivered to Congress after many months of investigation and preparation, recommended no criminal charges for the incumbent president, even were he not protected by immunity from prosecution due to his current stature.

However, the investigators painted a picture of a senile president with severe memory issues whose innocence was less clear than his supporters would have hoped, while not necessarily coming across to a potential jury as malicious or criminal.

It stated that the materials included files on military policy in Afghanistan and handwritten notes on national security, also suggesting that Mr Biden would look like an “elderly man with a poor memory” to a jury if he were to be hit with criminal charges.

Key Points

• Biden comes out fighting over claims about his memory at surprise press conference
• Special counsel finds Biden 'willfully retained' classified documents
• Biden will not face criminal charges in classified documents case
• Biden is ‘elderly man with poor memory’ and can’t recall when son died, says report

[9 February 2024 21:30 · Oliver O'Connell]

Watch: ‘That part of the report does not live in reality'

[9 February 2024 22:00 · Oliver O'Connell]

ICYMI: Biden mixes up Mexico and Egypt at surprise presser

President Joe Biden appeared to confuse Mexico with Egypt, in a press conference on Thursday called to refute allegations of his poor memory.

The president made reference to the ongoing conflict in the Middle East, saying: “The president of Mexico did not want to open up the gate to allow humanitarian material to get in. I talked to him. I convinced to open the gate.

“I talked to Bibi [Benjamin Netenyahu] to open the gate on the Israeli side. I’ve been pushing really hard, really hard to get humanitarian assistance into Gaza.

“There are a lot of innocent people who are starving, innocent people or in trouble and die, and it’s got to stop, number one.

“Number two... I’m the guy that made the case that we have to do much more to increase the amount of material going in, including fuel, including other items. I’ve been on the phone with Qataris. I’ve been on the phone with the Egyptians.”

Mike Bedigan reports:

[9 February 2024 22:30 · Oliver O'Connell]

Watch: White House press secretary asserts ‘The president of the United States runs the country'

[9 February 2024 23:00 · Oliver O'Connell]

Recap: Biden comes out fighting over claims about his memory

An angry and animated President Joe Biden on Thursday hit back at a Republican prosecutor’s claim that his memory is faulty in last-minute remarks to reporters on Thursday.

Earlier in the day, the Department of Justice released a report by Special Counsel Robert Hur, the former Maryland US Attorney who Attorney General Merrick Garland charged with probing how classified documents ended up at Mr Biden’s home in Delaware and former office in Washington.

Mr Hur did not recommend that Mr Biden face criminal charges, citing what he described as significant “mitigating factors” which led him to state that charges were not warranted and would not have been warranted even if Mr Biden were not president and barred from being prosecuted by Department of Justice policy.

Andrew Feinberg filed this report from Washington, DC:

[9 February 2024 23:30 · AP]

Could the race for George Santos’ congressional seat offer clues to how suburbs will vote in November?

A special election in the suburbs of New York to replace disgraced former Rep. George Santos could offer clues about the mindset of suburban voters everywhere as 2024 election contests ramp up across the country.

The Tuesday contest for the House seat held by Santos until his recent expulsion is shaping up to be a bellwether in the fight for control of Congress, as candidates test political messages their parties hope will appeal to suburban voters in the fall. It not only could subtract one more vote from Republicans’ narrow majority in the short run but will be monitored carefully for any signals it sends about what suburban voters elsewhere may be thinking entering the highly volatile 2024 election year.

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[10 February 2024 00:00 · Oliver O'Connell]

Biden’s age is now under scrutiny. His campaign needs to respond with careful candor

Eric Garcia writes:

President Joe Biden probably hoped that the 388-page report from special counsel would put a lingering question — the one of his handling of classified documents — to bed.

And indeed, while Special Counsel Robert Hur’s report said that Biden “willfully” held onto classified materials at his home in Delaware and the office of a think tank, it also said it would not recommend crimiminal charges for the president.

The good news ended there for the president. It should be noted that Attorney General Merrick Garland nominated Hur, a Republican whom Trump nominated to serve as the US Attorney for Maryland. Garland did so after Trump sought to use the entire department as his personal legal defense arm. It was supposed to be a show of impartiality toward the current president.

But nominating Hur might have given Republicans their most potent weapon yet. It forced a conversation on Biden’s age and whether it makes him fit to be the president for another term into the foreground. The report became the equivalent of a rubber hose beating: it may not be fatal, but it will bruise him up a bit.

Continue reading the full article...

[10 February 2024 01:00 · Oliver O'Connell]

[10 February 2024 02:00 · Oliver O'Connell]

Democrats use Mike Johnson’s Iran-Israel gaffe to take heat off Biden

Democrats are rushing to defend President Joe Biden after he appeared to confuse Mexico with Egypt during a press conference called to refute claims about his poor memory.

Following the release of Special Counsel Robert Hur’s report on Thursday – which claimed Mr Biden’s memory was “significantly limited” – Democratic lawmakers pointed to House Speaker Mike Johnson’s own gaffe, where he confused Iran with Israel last week.

Martha McHardy has the story:

[10 February 2024 03:00 · Oliver O'Connell]

Special counsel: Biden ‘wilfully’ held on to classified material

President Joe Biden “wilfully” held on to classified materials that were discovered at his home in Delaware and the office of a think tank in Washington DC, but should not face criminal charges for doing so, a special prosecutor appointed by the attorney general found in a report released on Thursday.

The special counsel, former Trump appointee and ex-Maryland US Attorney Robert Hur, did not recommend that Mr Biden face criminal charges, citing what he described as significant “mitigating factors” which led him to state that charges were not warranted and would not have been warranted even if Mr Biden were not president and barred from being prosecuted by Department of Justice policy.

John Bowden reports from Washington, DC:

[10 February 2024 04:00 · Oliver O'Connell]

Harris launches into fiery defence of Biden as she slams ‘integrity’ of special counsel

Andrew Feinberg, our White House correspondent, filed this report:

Vice President Kamala Harris on Friday came out swinging with a full-throated defence of President Joe Biden in the wake of an unflattering report on his conduct by a Republican special prosecutor.

Ms Harris was speaking in the Indian Treaty Room at the Eisenhower Executive Office Building at an event hosted by the White House’s gun violence prevention office when she addressed the matter of Mr Hur’s report, which critics have assailed as including gratuitous attacks on the president even as it announced that he will not face any criminal charges stemming from the discovery of classified documents at his Delaware home.

She said she has been “privileged and proud to serve as vice president of the United States” under Mr Biden, and said Mr Hur’s remarks on Mr Biden’s age and memory were “gratuitous, inaccurate, and inappropriate”.

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