Merrick Garland Faces Fury Over 'Political' Robert Hur Report

Attorney General Merrick Garland is under pressure after Special Counsel Robert Hur's report into President Joe Biden's classified documents.

Hur's report on the Obama-era classified documents found at Biden's home in Delaware and his Penn Biden Center office in Washington D.C. in December 2022 and January 2023 was released on Thursday. The special counsel declined to prosecute him for mishandling classified documents, but raised questions about his mental fitness and called him "a well-meaning, elderly man with a poor memory."

Garland appointed Hur to lead the Biden investigation in January 2023. Hur also served as U.S. attorney for the District of Maryland until 2021, having been appointed to the position by former President Donald Trump in 2018.

Hur's 388-page report said that, even if Biden weren't president, the Department of Justice (DOJ) wouldn't press charges against the Democrat as he cooperated fully with the investigation. Newsweek contacted the Department of Justice by website form to comment on this story.

"It would be difficult to convince a jury that they should convict him-by then a former president well into his eighties-of a serious felony that requires a mental state of willfulness," Hur wrote. In the report, he said that during interviews Biden couldn't remember when he was vice president, and had to ask when his first term ended and began. The report added that Biden did not remember, "even within several years," when his son Beau died of brain cancer in 2015.

Writing on X, formerly Twitter, some Biden supporters raged against critical language in the report. One, Jack Hopkins, said: "I'd like to hear from Merrick Garland on the inappropriateness of Robert Hur's comments.

"Since Garland has been clear that he doesn't want the actions of the DOJ to appear political in nature, maybe he should address the comments of someone appointed by the DOJ...that appear to be political," Hopkins added.

Sara Spector, a criminal defense attorney based in Texas, wrote: "Merrick Garland should have redacted Hur's personal opinions as to Biden's mental acuity from the report."

Consultant Robert Shrum posted: "I have refrained from all the criticism of Merrick Garland. I was wrong. And he was the wrong choice for DOJ. History will not absolve him."

In a press conference, Biden himself hit back at the report. "I know what the hell I'm doing," he said.

Meanwhile, in a letter circulating online that was addressed Hur and Deputy Special Counsel Marc Krickbaum, the White House said: "We do not believe that the report's treatment of President Biden's memory is accurate or appropriate ... In fact, there is ample evidence from your interview that the President did well in answering your questions about years-old events over the course of five hours."

Biden, 81, is in strong mental and physical shape for his advanced age, his supporters say; his gaffes and other issues are because of a life-long struggle with speaking problems.