President Joe Biden provided information deemed “not credible” to federal prosecutors during an investigation that determined he knowingly retained and shared classified documents, special counsel Robert Hur told the House Judiciary Committee on Tuesday.
Hur released his report in February, concluding that Biden “willfully retained and disclosed classified materials” after his vice presidency ended in early 2009. However, the special counsel opted not to bring charges, writing that a jury would be unlikely to convict because of Biden’s “diminished faculties in advancing age.”
During the hearing, which went into recess at 1:52 p.m., the committee’s Democrats repeatedly brought up former President Donald Trump’s own classified documents case.
Rep. Jerry Nadler, D-N.Y., ranking member of the committee, noted that Trump was charged with trying to obstruct the investigation into classified documents stored at his Florida estate.
“At any point in your investigation, do you have any reason to believe that President Biden lied to you?” Nadler asked, then seemed to be surprised by the answer he got from Hur.
The special counsel named by Attorney General Merrick Garland, a Biden appointee, referred to the Feb. 8 report from his office.
“I do address in my report one response the president gave to a question we posed to him that we deemed to be not credible,” Hur said.
Nadler moved on to talking more about Trump.
But other committee members talked significantly about Biden’s sharing information with the ghostwriter of his 2017 book “Promise Me, Dad,” which the report said Biden was getting up to $8 million to produce for the publisher.
Judiciary Committee Chairman Jim Jordan, R-Ohio, said there were “8 million reasons” why Biden might have knowingly violated the law on classified information.
“It wasn’t just the money, it wasn’t just $8 million,” Jordan said. “It was also his ego. Pride and money is why he knowingly violated the rules.”
Jordan read aloud from Hur’s report: “President Biden had strong motivations to ignore the proper procedures for safeguarding the classified information in his new book.”
“That’s a key word. We’re getting a motive now,” Jordan said, later adding: “Why did he have strong motivations? Because he decided months before leaving office to write a book.”
Later in the hearing, Rep. Matt Gaetz, R-Fla., asked more about the matter, reading aloud from the transcript in which a federal prosecutor questions Biden.
“Mr. President, why did you share classified information with your ghostwriter?” the lawyer on the special counsel’s team asks.
The president answers: “I did not share classified information. … I guarantee I did not.”
“That’s not true, is it, Mr. Hur?” Gaetz asked.
“That is inconsistent with the evidence of the findings in my report,” Hur responded.
Gaetz followed by asking: “It’s a lie is what regular people would say, right?”
Hur smiled, but didn’t answer directly.
Gaetz read again from the transcript, quoting Biden as saying: “All the stuff that was in my home was in filing cabinets that were locked or able to be locked.”
“That wasn’t true either, was it?” Gaetz said.
Hur replied: “That was inconsistent with the findings of our investigation.”
“Another lie, people might say,” Gaetz said.
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