The Department of Justice will hand over documents related to Special Counsel Robert Hur’s report on President Joe Biden’s handling of classified material, but will not include the transcript and audio of Hur's interview with Biden.
Hur's characterization of Biden as an “elderly man with a poor memory" set off a firestorm of criticism from Democrats who accused the investigator of injecting a partisan angle into the report. It also gave Republicans a new attack line against Biden as the pace of the 2024 presidential campaign continues to heat up.
As HuffPost points out, the DOJ's letter to House Judiciary Committee Chair Jim Jordan (R-OH) and House Oversight Committee Chair James Comer (R-KY) stated that the documents would not be included because they “require review for classification and protection of national defense information.”
“We also have substantial confidentiality interests regarding sensitive law enforcement and intelligence information,” Assistant Attorney General Carlos Felipe Uriarte wrote.
In a statement, Jordan's spokesperson Russell Dye rejected the DOJ's reasoning.
“Our staff has all necessary clearances to review the contents of the President’s interview, which dealt with materials found in unsecured areas like garages, closets and commercial office space,” Dye said. “We are evaluating next steps.”
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In his report, Hur concluded that Biden willfully retained and disclosed classified military and national security information, but stopped short of recommending charges.
“We concluded that no criminal charges are warranted in this matter,” Hur wrote in the report. “We would reach the same conclusion even if Department of Justice policy did not foreclose criminal charges against a sitting president.”
The report mentioned Biden's alleged memory lapses, saying investigators found the President's “memory was significantly limited” during interviews with his ghostwriter and an interview with Hur’s office last year. Hur said that during a 2023 interview, Biden did not remember when his son Beau died and couldn't recall the years he served as vice president.
