Former special counsel Robert Hur will testify on Capitol Hill on Tuesday about his damning report on classified documents that painted President Joe Biden as “elderly” and “forgetful” and with “diminished abilities.”
Hur was appointed special counsel by Attorney General Merrick Garland in January 2022 to investigate the president’s handling of classified files based on a number of areas, including Afghanistan.
Hur left the Justice Department on Monday and will testify as a private citizen, DailyMail.com has confirmed.
After a year of silence, he released the explosive report that raised questions about his decision not to prosecute the president, Biden’s cognitive fitness for office and how the commander-in-chief ‘intentionally’ withheld the documents.
Special Counsel Robert Hur testifies on Capitol Hill Tuesday following his bombshell report that painted President Biden as ‘elderly’ and ‘forgetful’
In interviews with investigators, Biden became confused about when he was vice president and could not even remember the year his son Beau died.
And it said his cavalier attitude toward classified documents, such as his habit of reading sensitive files to a ghostwriter, posed a significant national security risk.
One of the reasons they decided not to press charges was that “at trial, Mr. Biden would likely present himself to a jury, as he did during our interview with him, as a likable, well-intentioned, older man with a poor memory ‘.
Now the Judiciary Committee will try to get clarity on his 338-page report, and Hur is set to double down on his criticism of Biden’s memory, according to opening statements obtained by DailyMail.com.
According to transcripts of Hur’s interviews with Biden on Oct. 8 and Oct. 9, 2023, Biden’s lawyer had to tell him the year his son Beau died of brain cancer, and the president joked that the special counsel found photos of his wife in a bathing suit.
“What month did Beau die?” Biden mused at one point, adding: ‘Oh God, May 30.’
A lawyer from the White House then chimed in with the year 2015.
‘Was it 2015 he died?’ Biden asked.
After the DOJ searched his garage and office for classified documents, Biden quipped to Hur: ‘You left everything in place. I just hope you didn’t find any risque pictures of my wife in a bathing suit. Which you probably did. She is beautiful.’
According to his opening statement, Hur will argue: ‘I understood that my explanation on this matter should include a rigorous, detailed and thorough analysis.
“In other words, I needed to show my work,” he says. ‘I knew that for my decision to be credible, I couldn’t just announce that I was not recommending any criminal charges and leave it at that. I needed to explain why.’
Hur will add that he had to question Biden’s memory and could not make a charging decision without assessing the “president’s state of mind.”
“For that reason, I had to consider the president’s memory and general mental state and how a jury was likely to perceive his memory and mental state in a criminal trial,” he says.
‘Because these issues were important to my final decision, I had to include a discussion of them in my report.
Hur is set to double down on his criticism of Biden’s memory, according to opening statements obtained by DailyMail.com
‘I didn’t clean up my explanation. Nor did I disparage the president unfairly.
‘I explained to the public prosecutor my decision and the reasons for it. That was what I was obliged to do.’
A source familiar with the planned hearing told DailyMail.com it is likely to be ’80/20 focused on the merits of the decision not to charge’ the president for mishandling documents.
House Republicans have demanded that the Department of Justice (DOJ) release all transcripts and audio related to an interview Hur conducted with the president in its investigation into Biden’s handling of classified documents, but so far they have been unsatisfied with what the department have given. over.
Hur’s report, summarizing his investigation into Biden’s mishandling of classified documents, contains a host of examples of Biden’s “dry” memory, including a point where Biden seemed to forget when his son Beau died.
Hur insisted that Biden was unfit for prosecution over his mishandling of documents because he was a “well-meaning, elderly man with a bad memory.”
The special counsel noted that Biden had ‘diminished abilities’ and at times ‘didn’t remember when he was vice president.’
The circular box in the foreground contained documents about Afghanistan. The photo was taken in December 2022 in Biden’s garage, along with other household items
Republicans jumped on the material, saying it proves Biden is unfit to run the country.
One particularly damaging passage Hur included said: ‘In his interview with our office, Mr. Biden’s memory was worse. He did not remember when he was vice president, forgot on the first day of the interview when his term ended (‘if it was 2013 – when did I stop being vice president?’), and forgot on the second day of the interview when his term ended began (‘in 2009, am I still vice president?’),’ according to the report.
“He did not remember, even within several years, when his son Beau died. And his memory seemed hazy when he described the Afghanistan debate that was once so important to him.’
Biden lashed out at that passage in a defiant press conference, saying his memory is ‘fine’.
The report is packed with images of documents recovered from Biden’s home or an office he used when he was vice president
The details of the report are fading in Biden’s memory, both in conversations with his ghostwriter and with investigators. The conclusion is that the jurors may have made an innocent mistake
“There is even a reference that I can’t remember when my son died. How on earth does he dare bring it up? I don’t need anybody, I don’t need anybody to remind me when he died, the president told reporters.
‘Honestly, when I was asked the question, I thought to myself it was none of their damn business.’
He also said reports of his “intentional” withholding of documents were “misleading.”
At one point he shouted: ‘I didn’t share classified information! I did not!’
Biden then took a question about the humanitarian situation in Gaza.
In doing so, he misidentified a world leader and called Egypt’s Abdel Fattah El-Sisi the president of Mexico, Andrés Manuel López Obrador.
He said: ‘I think, as you first know, the president of Mexico, El-Sisi, did not want to open the gate for humanitarian material to come in. I talked to him. I convinced him to open the gate.’
The president continued to blame his staff for sensitive documents from his time as vice president being found in his home, garage and office.
He blamed subordinates for some of the decisions that landed him in trouble and sparked the years-long investigation that is already providing fodder for President Donald Trump’s campaign.
“I take responsibility for not seeing exactly what my staff was doing,” he said.