(DCNF)—Special counsel Robert Hur corrected Democratic Washington Rep. Pramila Jayapal at a Tuesday hearing when she said his report exonerated President Joe Biden for his handling of classified documents.
Hur issued his report in February on Biden’s handling of classified documents, deciding not to pursue charges against the president because he would be unlikely to get a conviction. Jayapal asserted Hur’s report exonerated Biden, but the special counsel disputed her statement.
“This lengthy, expensive and independent investigation resulted in a complete exoneration of President Joe Biden,” Jayapal said. “For every document you discussed in your report, you found insufficient evidence that the president violated any laws about possession or retention of classified materials.”
“[Exoneration] is not a word that I used in the report,” Hur asserted. “And that’s not part of my task as a prosecutor.”
Jayapal talked over Hur as he elaborated on his answer. “You exonerated him,” she said.
“I did not exonerate him,” Hur responded. “That word does not appear in the report, congresswoman.”
Hur did not bring charges against Biden, despite finding evidence that he willfully kept classified documents, because the jury might view the president as “a sympathetic, well-meaning, elderly man with a poor memory,” according to his report.
Florida Republican Rep. Matt Gaetz pressed Hur during the hearing on why he did not bring charges against Biden as well as his book ghostwriter. Gaetz said Hur should have charged Biden’s ghostwriter for discarding certain evidence when he learned of the special counsel’s appointment.
“Just so everybody knows, the ghostwriter didn’t just delete the recordings as a matter of happenstance,” Gaetz said. “Ghostwriter has recordings of Biden making admissions of crimes, he then learns that you’ve been appointed, he then deletes the information that is the evidence, and you don’t charge him.”