‘I’m Worried About Hur’s Cognitive Ability’: Special Counsel Demolished Over Representation of Biden
Facts from transcript appear to contradict special counsel's characterizations
Former special counsel Robert Hur came under heavy political fire Tuesday after it became apparent that he misrepresented President Biden in the public report released last month.
Not only did Hur — a registered Republican and a member of Donald Trump’s administration — testify before Congress Tuesday, but shortly before that testimony began the transcript of the interview between Biden and Hur and his team was made public.
The information contained in that transcript is at serious odds with Hur’s characterization of the president as an “elderly man with a poor memory” when Hur announced last month that Biden would not be charged in connection with the retention of federal documents after leaving office as vice president.
Attorney General Merrick Garland appointed Hur to investigate Biden after several catches of government documents were found to have been in Biden’s possession.
Unlike Trump and the trove of documents found at his Mar-a-Lago Florida estate, Biden fully cooperated with authorities in the location and return of those documents.
But Hur’s narrative of Biden as a forgetful and incapable individual was contradicted by elements of the transcript released Tuesday of Hur’s five-hour interview with Biden conducted last fall at the White House.
Details of those discrepancies circulated online and elsewhere.
Joyce Vance, a prominent legal analyst and former US attorney, circulated a social media post by MSNBC executive producer Kyle Griffin which shows a key contradiction in the transcript regarding the death of Biden’s son, Beau.
“During his interview with Robert Hur, President Biden named the correct month and day that Beau Biden died, according to the transcript,” Griffin wrote. “Hur claimed in his report Biden couldn't remember the date. During the hearing, Rep. [Madeleine] Dean pressed Hur to ‘correct the record.’ Hur refused.”
Vance captioned her repost, “No wonder Biden was angry”
Hur even found himself skewered for his lack of honesty by late-night TV comedians.
“Hur refused to engage in hypotheticals, but today, he did release the full transcript of his interviews with the president,” said CBS host Stephen Colbert. “And what do you know, it’s not as ‘old-man-forgets-a-lot’ as his summary made it out to be.
“At one point, Hur even complimented Biden’s memory specifically saying, ‘You appear to have a photographic understanding and recall.’ So the exact opposite of his report summary,” Colbert added, quipping, “At this point, I’m worried about Hur’s cognitive ability. Did anyone ask him to identify a whale?”
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