I was fair to Biden, says special counsel who raised memory loss

Robert Hur tells judiciary committee ‘politics played no part’ in his description of the president, 81, as an ‘elderly man with a poor memory’.

Robert Hur testifies before the House judiciary committee on Tuesday. Picture: AFP

The special prosecutor who investigated President Joe Biden’s retention of classified government documents says he did not treat the US President unfairly in concluding that he was a “well-meaning, elderly man with a poor memory”.

Robert Hur defended his 345-page report as he gave evidence to the Republican-led House of Representatives judiciary committee overnight on Tuesday.

Facing hostile questioning from members of both parties, Mr Hur rejected any notion that his report was biased and refused to agree with a suggestion that Mr Biden was “senile”.

“My assessment in the report about the relevance of the President’s memory was necessary and accurate and fair,” he said in a submission to the committee.

“Most importantly, what I wrote is what I believe the evidence shows, and what I expect jurors would perceive and believe. I did not sanitise my explanation. Nor did I disparage the President unfairly.”

Mr Hur concluded that Mr Biden, 81, should not face criminal charges over his mishandling of documents found in the garage of his home in Delaware and in Washington offices he used after standing down as vice-president in 2017.

Democrats were particularly incensed by the language of Mr Hur’s report and accused him of creating a “political firestorm” he knew could be exploited by Donald Trump in his campaign to return to the White House.

Adam Schiff, a Democrat on the committee, said Mr Hur, a registered Republican, had used “political” language.

In a testy exchange, the prosecutor replied that it “would have been an incomplete report” if he had not included those comments, saying: “Politics played no part whatsoever.”

Mr Schiff replied: “You cannot tell me you’re so naive to think that your words wouldn’t create a political firestorm … you were not born yesterday.”

Mr Schiff’s Democratic colleagues continued the theme during questioning of Mr Hur, the US attorney in Maryland before being appointed special counsel by Attorney-General Merrick Garland.

Mr Trump, 77, Mr Biden’s probable opponent in November’s election, is to be prosecuted by a different special counsel over his retention of classified documents at his Florida home. The decision to charge Mr Trump and not Mr Biden led Republicans to argue there was a “two-tier justice system”.

Mr Hur also clashed with Republicans over Mr Biden’s mental capacity, refusing to agree with suggestions that he was “senile”. Congressman Scott Fitzgerald said: “Webster’s dictionary defines senile as exhibiting a decline of cognitive ability, such as memory, associated with old age. Mr Hur, did you find that the President was senile?”

Mr Hur replied: “I did not. That conclusion does not appear in my report.”

Jim Jordan, the committee’s Republican chairman, said it was not believable that Mr Biden did not know he was breaking the rules, suggesting the President had hoped the documents would help him sell more books.

“He broke them because he was writing a book,” Mr Jordan said, noting that Mr Biden received an advance of $US8m to write a book after his vice-presidency. “Pride and money is why he knowingly violated the rules. The oldest motives in the book, pride and money.”

During five hours of interviews for Mr Hur’s report, Mr Biden said he had never intended to retain the documents but struggled to recall dates and timelines.

Mr Hur concluded the President had “significant limitations” on his memory.

A transcript of Mr Biden’s testimony shows he appeared to confuse the year his son Beau died.

Mr Hur said it could be difficult to prove beyond a reasonable doubt Mr Biden intended to keep the documents, the standard for conviction in a criminal case.

THE TIMES