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White House spokesman for oversight and investigations Ian Sams pointed the blame to Republicans for the Department of Justice's (DOJ) Special Counsel Robert Hur's politically "pressurized" report during a press briefing on Friday.
The Context:
Hur's report into classified documents that were found at President Joe Biden's Delaware home and his Penn Biden Center office in Washington, D.C., drummed up criticism from both Republicans and Democrats, with Republicans sharing concerns over Biden's memory and Democrats airing their grievances over parts of the report, which they saw as political jabs to the president.
Hur decided not to bring criminal charges against Biden, which the president said on Thursday that he was "pleased" with, however, it was what Hur said about Bien's memory that made headlines.
"In his interview with our office, Mr. Biden's memory was worse. He did not remember when he was vice president, forgetting on the first day of the interview when his term ended ("if it was 2013 - when did I stop being Vice President?"), and forgetting on the second day of the interview when his term began ("in 2009, am I still Vice President?")," the report stated.
Hur decided not to charge Biden because he cooperated and there was not enough evidence to establish Biden's guilt beyond a reasonable doubt, but the special counsel also pointed to the fact that it would likely be difficult to convict the president.
"Mr. Biden would likely present himself to a jury, as he did during our interview of him, as a sympathetic, well-meaning, elderly man with a poor memory," Hur's report said.
Biden said on television Thursday night, "I know what the hell I'm doing," after receiving criticism over his mental competency.
What We Know:
Sams suggested that Hur may have felt pressure to make some of the controversial statements in his report.
"We are in a very pressurized political environment, and when you are the first special counsel in history not to indict anybody, there is pressure to criticize and to make statements that maybe you otherwise wouldn't make," he told reporters.
Later on in the press briefing, a reporter asked if it is the White House's official position that the report was "politically motivated" after Vice President Kamala Harris said it was earlier in the day.
"There's an environment that we are in that generates a ton of pressure because you have congressional republicans, other republicans attacking prosecutors that they don't like and it creates a need if you're going to determine that charges weren't filed, people are human and they are thinking through, you know, what do we need to do," Sams said, in part. "And it leaves one to wonder why he included a lot of the criticisms that were in there."
Newsweek reached out to Sams and the White House via email for comment.
The Views:
Republican lawmakers who have been vocal supporters of former President Donald Trump questioned Biden's fitness to be president on social media.
"If Joe Biden is not mentally fit to stand trial, then he certainly isn't mentally fit to be President of the United States," Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene, a Georgia Republican, posted on X, formerly Twitter, on Thursday. "It's time to do something about it."
Meanwhile, Biden's 2024 campaign shared a clip from Friday's episode of MSNBC's Morning Joe, in which Dave Aronberg, state attorney for Palm Beach County, Florida, said Hur's reports included "gratuitous shots at President Biden."
"It's a sloppy report," Aronberg said. "The question to me is why did he [Hur] do this? And I think the reason why he did this is that he was...motivated to avoid David Weiss's fate. David Weiss is now hated by his own party."
Weiss, who was nominated to serve as U.S. attorney in Delaware by Trump in 2017, was appointed by Attorney General Merrick Garland as special counsel for the DOJ's investigation into Biden's son, Hunter Biden, last August.
What's Next?
While Biden's classified documents case is now closed, Trump is still in hot water with the DOJ as they build a case against him for classified documents found at his Mar-a-Lago estate in Florida. Trump was indicted in June 2023 after the DOJ accused him of mishandling presidential records by keeping them upon leaving office and then obstructing the government's efforts to retrieve them. Trump has pleaded not guilty to all charges and maintains that the case is politically motivated.
The presidential election in November will likely be a rematch between 81-year-old Biden, as he is the Democratic incumbent, and GOP frontrunner Trump, 77. Both will have to answer to voters' concerns over their ages and cognitive abilities.
About the writer
Rachel Dobkin is a Newsweek reporter based in New York. Her focus is reporting on politics. Rachel joined Newsweek in ... Read more