March 12 (UPI) — House Republicans focused on President Joe Biden’s memory during a committee hearing Tuesday, with Democrats drawing on the differences between his handling of classified information and that by former President Donald Trump.
The hearing and newly released transcripts of Biden’s interview with the special counsel delved into some potential mischaracterizations of the president’s alleged memory lapses.
Special Counsel Robert K. Hur testified before the House Judiciary Committee for more than three hours. He explained that his investigation did not find evidence beyond a reasonable doubt that Biden willfully retained classified documents after leaving the office of vice president. The probe also does not exonerate him of any wrongdoing.
Hur’s report, released last month, details evidence that Biden kept classified materials at his home in Wilmington, Del., at the Penn Biden Center in Washington and at his private rental home in Virginia.
“We did not, however, find evidence that rose to the level of proof beyond a reasonable doubt,” Hur testified. “Because the evidence fell short of that standard, I declined to recommend criminal charges against Mr. Biden.”
The report has raised questions about whether Biden is mentally fit to be president. Hur’s description of Biden in his report as a “sympathetic, well-meaning, elderly man with a poor memory,” was brought into question by Republicans and Democrats on Tuesday.
During Hur’s opening statement, he said he included his assessment of Biden’s memory and mental state to explain his own reasoning for not recommending charges.
“My task was to determine whether the president retained or disclosed national defense information willfully,” Hur said. “I could not make that determination without assessing the president’s state of mind. The evidence and the president himself put his memory squarely at issue.”
Rep. Adam Schiff, D-Calif., accused Hur of acting politically by going beyond what was necessary and including language about Biden’s mental acuity.
“You chose a general pejorative reference to the president. You understood that by making that decision you would ignite a political firestorm with that language didn’t you?” Schiff asked Hur. ” You understood exactly what you were doing. It was a political choice. It was the wrong choice.”
Rep. Matt Gaetz, R-Fla., and Rep. Scott Fitzgerald, R-Wis., alleged that Biden is “senile.” The term does not appear in Hur’s report and he denied that he reached that conclusion.
Republicans also questioned Hur’s decision to not recommend charges against Biden. Gaetz said all of the elements were present to charge Biden, though Hur did not believe Biden or Trump should be charged. Hur said that one key element to make that decision is missing: intent.
Trump and Biden are not the only government officials who are known to have kept classified documents, according to Hur’s report. President Ronald Reagan kept handwritten diaries after leaving office, some containing classified information. Biden referenced these diaries when interviewed about his own notebooks, explaining that he understood them to be his property.
Hur concluded that a jury would find this a compelling argument that Biden did not retain documents with the intent of causing injury to the United States. Biden did turn over the notebooks in question during the investigation, according to Hur.
Democrats played videos of Trump misspeaking, mumbling and delivering incorrect information during various campaign speeches and during testimony to investigators.
They also drew distinctions between Biden’s handling of classified documents and the indictment of Trump for keeping classified documents in his Mar-a-Lago home in Florida.
Rep. Jerry Nadler, D-N.Y., highlighted Biden’s cooperation with the investigation. The president allowed investigators to search his home and various offices and retrieve documents. He also testified for more than five hours over the course of two days.
Those two days happened to be Oct. 8 and 9, the days following the Hamas attack in Israel.
Hur confirmed in his report and in testimony that Biden was cooperative. He also confirmed that the transcript shows him telling Biden he “appears to have a photographic memory” of his home, a statement that was not included in the report.
The investigation included 173 interviews of 147 people.
Speaking to Trump’s case, Democrats focused on him continuing to retain classified documents as the Justice Department attempted to recover them. He is also accused of ordering others, including aide Walter Nauta, to destroy or hide evidence and lie to investigators.
“Why charge Trump and not Biden?” Nadler asked. “Not because of some vast conspiracy theory. Not because the so-called deep state was out to get him. But because former President Trump was fundamentally incapable of taking advantage of even one of the many, many chances he was given to avoid those charges.”
Hur acknowledged the comparison in his report.
“Most notably, after being given multiple chances to return classified documents and avoid prosecution, Mr. Trump allegedly did the opposite,” Hur wrote. “In contrast, Mr. Biden turned in classified documents to the National Archives and the Department of Justice, consented to the search of multiple locations, including his homes, sat for a voluntary interview and in other ways cooperated with the investigation.”
Among the most notable memory gaffes described by Hur in his report is an instance during Biden’s interview when he was characterized as having forgotten the date of his son Beau’s death. Rep. Madeleine Dean, D-Pa., pointed to the transcripts of the interview, noting that Biden did remember that date.
“He said, ‘Oh, god, May 30th,'” Dean said. “Would you like to correct the record? His memory was pretty firm on the month and the day.”
Hur said he does not believe that is correct “with respect to the transcript” even though the quote from Biden is in the transcript.
Rep. Jim Jordan, R-Ohio, evoked another distinction between Biden and Trump’s handling of classified information, saying Biden’s documents were “everywhere.”
“By comparison — President Trump’s classified documents were at his home with secret service protection,” Jordan said.
Hur, a Republican, was nominated by Trump and appointed U.S. attorney for the district of Maryland in 2018. He was appointed in January 2023 by Attorney General Merrick Garland to serve as special counsel for the Justice Department’s investigation into Biden’s handling of classified documents.
