Special Counsel Hur Testifies for US House

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Facts

• Special Counsel Robert Hur on Tuesday testified before the US House Judiciary Committee over his report on Pres. Joe Biden's handling of classified documents and comments about the president's memory and demeanor found within.¹
• This month, Hur released a report recommending the US Dept. of Justice (DOJ) refrain from charging Biden with crimes over his retention of classified documents after his vice presidency. But Hur also referred to Biden as a 'well-meaning elderly man with a poor memory.'¹
• A transcript of Hur's interviews with Biden was released Tuesday before the hearing. It featured Biden's claims that he treated the classified documents seriously, but he was reportedly unsure about some dates and details.²
• Early in his testimony, Hur rebutted Rep. Jerry Nadler's (D-N.Y.) remark that the report was a 'total exoneration' of Biden by saying the report wasn't an 'exoneration' and the word doesn't even appear in the report.³
• Partisanship was on full display throughout the hearing. The GOP accused Hur, who was selected by the DOJ, of giving Biden a pass, especially in light of former Pres. Donald Trump facing criminal charges for his handling of classified documents.²
• Democrats, on the other hand, contrasted Biden's cooperation with the investigation against Trump's refusal to return the documents. Some Democrats assailed Hur for, what they described as, smearing the president for the benefit of Republicans' narrative about Biden.⁴

Sources: ¹USA Today, ²Associated Press, ³The Hill and ⁴CBS.

Narratives

• Democratic narrative, as provided by Salon. Hur owes Biden an apology for depicting the president as having serious memory lapses despite that not being the mandate of the investigation. The transcript paints a more nuanced picture of Biden's answers and contradicts some of Hur's claims. Hur was defiant in his testimony, but he should have to answer for his tarnishing of Biden's reputation.
• Republican narrative, as provided by Townhall. Whether Biden is forgetful and elderly is not relevant here other than the fact that Hur seems to have let Biden off the hook because the special counsel has that impression of the president. Biden's admission that he took the documents willfully was the same explanation Trump gave under questioning, yet Trump is the only one facing criminal charges. Hur needs to better explain this double standard.

Predictions