Robert Hur Doubles Down on Joe Biden's Memory Remarks

Special Counsel Robert Hur will defend his comments on Joe Biden's memory, which were made in the classified documents report about the president.

Hur is due to testify before lawmakers on Tuesday about the inquiry. He decided not to seek criminal charges following the discovery of Obama-era sensitive materials at President Biden's Delaware home and an office he used in Washington, D.C.

According to his opening statement, obtained by Politico, Hur will say that his report's criticism of the 81-year-old president's memory was "necessary, accurate, and fair" and that Biden himself "put his memory squarely at issue."

Newsweek reached out to the White House via email for comment.

The Context

In February, Hur released a report saying that charges against Biden would not be warranted and that a conviction would be hard to secure as Biden would likely present himself to a jury as a "sympathetic, well-meaning, elderly man with a poor memory."

Hur's report also detailed several other examples of concern about Biden's cognitive abilities, including suggesting his memory was "significantly limited" during interviews as part of the inquiry, and claiming the president could not remember, "even within several years," when his son Beau died of brain cancer (2015).

The report reignited concerns about Biden's age as he seeks a second term in the White House. Donald Trump, Biden's expected 2024 Republican challenger, leaped on Hur's report to attack Biden.

Trump and other Republicans also suggested Biden's not facing prosecution was proof the Department of Justice is "weaponized" against the former president, who has pleaded not guilty to 40 federal charges he illegally retained sensitive materials when he left the White House in January 2021 and then obstructed the federal attempts to retrieve them.

What We Know

Hur was appointed special counsel to review Biden's handling of classified documents after sensitive materials were located at Biden's private residence in Wilmington and an office at the Penn Biden Center in Washington, D.C., in December 2022 and January 2023.

Hur's report, which detailed alleged issues with Biden's memory, was heavily criticized by the president and the White House, with Biden saying that his memory is "fine."

On Tuesday morning, Hur will testify in Congress in front of the House Judiciary Committee, where he will answer questions about his report into Biden's handling of classified documents.

In his opening statement, Hur will defend discussing concerns about Biden's memory in his federal report, as it was relevant to explain why he would not be seeking criminal charges against the president.

"There has been a lot of attention paid to language in the report about the President's memory, so let me say a few words about that. My task was to determine whether the President retained or disclosed national defense information 'willfully'—meaning, knowingly and with the intent to do something the law forbids," Hur will say.

"I could not make that determination without assessing the President's state of mind. For that reason, I had to consider the President's memory and overall mental state, and how a jury likely would perceive his memory and mental state in a criminal trial.

"The evidence and the President himself put his memory squarely at issue," Hur adds. "We interviewed the President and asked him about his recorded statement, 'I just found all the classified stuff downstairs.' He told us that he didn't remember saying that to his ghostwriter. He also said he didn't remember finding any classified material in his home after his vice presidency. And he didn't remember anything about how classified documents about Afghanistan made their way into his garage.

"My assessment in the report about the relevance of the President's memory was necessary and accurate and fair. Most importantly, what I wrote is what I believe the evidence shows, and what I expect jurors would perceive and believe."

Views

White House spokesman Ian Sams said at a February 9 press briefing: "For the past few years, Republicans in Congress and elsewhere have been attacking prosecutors who aren't doing what Republicans want politically. They have made up claims of a two-tiered system of justice between Republicans and Democrats. They have denigrated the rule of law for political purposes.

"That reality creates a ton of pressure. And in that pressurized political environment, when the inevitable conclusion is that the facts and the evidence don't support any charges, you're left to wonder why this report spends time making gratuitous and inappropriate criticisms of the President."

Representative Jim Jordan, chair of the House Judiciary Committee, said that "Special Counsel Robert Hur's investigation into President Biden's mishandling of classified documents made two things clear: there's a double standard of justice in this country and Joe Biden isn't fit for office."

What Next

Hur is due to testify from 10 a.m. ET on Tuesday, March 12.

The debate on the memory and cognitive ability of Biden, as well as that of the 77-year-old Trump, looks set to continue throughout the rest of the 2024 campaign season.

Update 3/12/24, 8:44 a.m. ET: This article was updated with additional information.