Special Counsel Robert Hur rejected claims from Democrats he ‘completely exonerated’ Joe Biden by not charging him with mishandling classified documents during his fiery appearance in Congress.
He also revealed that the White House requested ‘certain changes’ to the report when he sent over a draft saying Biden had a bad memory.
Hur then agreed with Republican Rep. Jim Jordan that ‘pride and money’ motivated Biden to keep sensitive files, because he used some of the materials for a memoir that earned him $8million.
In a tense exchange with Rep. Pramila Jayapal over whether his damning report cleared Biden, Hur said: ‘I did not exonerate him’.’
Special Counsel Robert Hur rejected claims from Democrats he ‘completely exonerated’ Joe Biden by not charging him with mishandling classified documents
He also said that the word ‘exoneration’ did not appear in the report.
Japayal said ‘Mr. Hur, it’s my time’ when they spoke over each other during his bombshell testimony in Congress.
At one point, Rep. Will Kiley, R-Calif., suggested to Hur that a ‘reasonable juror’ could have voted to convict Biden based on the facts Hur had put forth.
‘Correct,’ said Hur.
He refused to engage in a ‘hypothetical’ on whether or not he would have vote to convict if he were on the jury.
White House oversight spokesman Ian Sams quipped back about the ‘exonerate’ remarks on X: ‘This is a very strange thing for the national media—and the Special Counsel—to fixate on… In America, you’re innocent until proven guilty. The ultimate conclusion here was that charges are NOT warranted and the case is CLOSED. In other words, the President was cleared.’
Democrats and Republicans fired fierce questions at Hur during his appearance at Capitol Hill on Tuesday, a month after he released the report that said Biden had a bad memory and ‘diminished faculties’.
He insisted politics played ‘no part whatsoever’ in his findings and rejected Democrat suggestions his damning report was a bid to get Donald Trump elected.
Republicans also interrogated Hur, and asked why Biden wasn’t charged when Trump was.
Hur began his testimony by revealing Biden ‘willfully’ retained classified materials as a private citizen and gave them to Mark Zwonitzer – the ghost writer of his $8 million book – who later tried to destroy them.
In a tense exchange with Rep. Pramila Jayapal (above) over whether his damning report cleared Biden, he said: ‘I did not exonerate him’
Hur then agreed with Republican Rep. Jim Jordan that ‘pride and money’ motivated Biden to keep sensitive files, because he used some of the materials for a memoir that earned him $8million
Hur arrived on Capitol Hill to offer insight into his devastating classified documents report that painted Biden as ‘elderly’ and ‘forgetful’ and with ‘diminished faculties,’ but did not recommend charges for the president.
He pushed back on Democrats who claimed his report cleared Biden of any wrongdoing, saying it ‘did not exonerate’ the president.
‘We identified evidence that the President willfully retained classified materials after the end of his vice presidency, when he was a private citizen,’ Hur said during the high-stakes hearing.
Hur said that included in the evidence was a recorded conversation between Biden and his ghost writer Zwonitzer in which the president stated that he had just ‘found all the classified stuff downstairs.’
After leaving the vice presidency, Biden and now-First Lady Jill signed a multi-book deal with Flatiron Books valued at $8 million, according to Publishers Weekly.
The first book, ‘Promise Me, Dad,’ a memoir that centers on when his son Beau died and he decided not to run for president in 2015, briefly topped the best sellers list.
He insisted politics played ‘no part whatsoever’ in his findings and rejected Democrat suggestions his damning report was a bid to get Donald Trump elected
Hur shockingly revealed that the ghost writer tried to hide evidence after he was named special counsel in the case.
‘What did that ghostwriter do with the information Joe Biden shared with him on his laptop, what did he do after you were named special counsel?’ House Judiciary Chairman Jim Jordan asked the former special counsel.
‘He slid those files into the recycle bin on his computer,’ Hur said.
He ‘tried to destroy the evidence, didn’t he?’ asked Jordan.
‘Correct,’ said Hur.
Judiciary Chair Jim Jordan noted Biden got $8 million for his book deal and argued Biden knowingly handed over those documents to the writer.
‘Pride and money is why he knowingly violated the rules,’ Jordan said of Biden.
Biden said in his interview with Hur that he made more from the book sale than he ever made in his life.
‘I ended up making more money on the sale of that book than I ever made in my whole life,’ Biden said. ‘I was able to give a million dollars away to charity. I’ve always wanted to do that.’
Biden, in a fiery news conference on February 8 after Hur’s bombshell report was published, swore he had not shared classified documents.