House Republicans are making moves to bring special counsel Robert Hur to testify before the House Judiciary Committee regarding his recent report on President Joe Biden’s management of classified documents.
Despite not leading to criminal charges, Hur’s report portrayed Biden as a forgetful leader who failed to adequately safeguard sensitive classified information, providing Republicans with political ammunition. Hur has secured Bill Burck as his personal attorney, and discussions are targeting late February for his testimony.
House Oversight Chairman James Comer has called on the Justice Department to grant his committee access to all classified materials related to the Republican-led impeachment inquiry into the president.
Comer emphasized the need for the Justice Department to offer unrestricted access to these documents to assess whether Biden’s retention of sensitive materials played a role in the Bidens’ alleged influence-peddling schemes.
House Oversight Republicans have additionally urged the Justice Department to release the full transcript of Biden’s interview with the special counsel, as quoted in the final report.
Comparisons have been drawn to the cases of special counsels Robert Mueller and John Durham during the Trump presidency, both of whom testified before Congress after submitting their reports to the Justice Department.
Mueller, after some initial reluctance, appeared before the House Judiciary and Intelligence committees in July 2019, providing responses that largely stuck to his report.
The negotiations for Mueller’s appearance extended over weeks, resulting in him testifying after being subpoenaed. In June of the following year, Durham testified to the House Judiciary Committee about his investigation into the FBI’s probe into Trump and Russia.
Hur’s special counsel report detailed Biden’s willful retention of classified information, including top-secret documents, dating back to 2017.
The report revealed that Biden had shared some of this information with the ghostwriter of his 2017 memoir. Despite the serious nature of the allegations, the special counsel opted not to charge the president, citing a lack of evidence demonstrating a willful intent by Biden to illegally retain classified information.
One politically damaging aspect of the report was Hur’s assertion that one reason for not prosecuting Biden was his presentation to a jury as an elderly man “with a poor memory.”
Biden’s legal team objected to this characterization, labeling it as “investigative excess” and accusing Hur of violating Justice Department rules and norms.
The report is anticipated to play a significant role in the 2024 campaign, particularly since Biden’s potential opponent, Donald Trump, is currently facing criminal charges for his handling of classified material.
Despite the differences highlighted by Hur between the two cases, the report is expected to feature prominently in political discourse.
