WH complained to DOJ for including Biden’s memory issues
BEFORE special counsel Hur report was released
Daily Mail ^ | 2/15/24 | Charlie Spiering
Posted on 2/16/2024, 12:24:11 AM by Libloather
The White House sent an angry letter to Attorney General Merrick Garland a day before the Special Counsel report on President Joe Biden’s mishandling of classified information was released. White House Counsel Ed Siskel complained in a letter on February 7 that Special Counsel Robert Hur’s report included ‘multiple denigrating statements’ about Biden’s memory. Details of the White House letters between Justice Department officials were first published by Politico.
‘A global and pejorative judgment on the President’s powers of recollection in general is uncalled for and unfounded,’ the letter read. The latest development in the special counsel saga as Congress confirmed Hur will testify on Capitol Hill on March 12 in a blockbuster experience that could spell more trouble for Biden.
Siskel said Hur ‘openly, obviously, and blatantly’ violated Department policy and practices by commenting on Biden’s memory and demeanor during the interview. The letter also noted that Biden’s five-hour interview with the Special Counsel took place after the ‘grave international crisis’ of the October 7 terrorist attacks on Israel, which he argued was ‘crucial context’ for Biden’s hesitant answers.
The letters reveal the White House effort to influence the report before it’s release, as they viewed it as politically damaging for the president. The Justice Department defended Hur, as Associate Deputy Attorney General Bradley Weinsheimer told the president’s lawyers in a letter that the report was ‘consistent with legal requirements and Department policy.’
The White House pushed back sharply against the Justice Department after the report was released, which culminated in the president himself angrily condemning Hur for reporting that Biden ‘did not remember, even within several years, when his son Beau died.’ ‘How the hell dare he raise that,’ Biden yelled during a press conference on Tuesday.(Excerpt) Read more at dailymail.co.uk ...
Team Biden Is Hoping Nobody Notices This Revelation From Special Counsel Hur’s Report
Daily Caller ^ | February 11, 2024 | Peter Roff
Posted on 2/12/2024, 6:31:53 AM by Red Badger
They say success in politics has much to do with timing. Hitting the right issue in the right way at the right moment can make a campaign. Failing to do so can break it. If that’s true, then the person at the Biden re-elect who hit “send” on a fundraising email Thursday, subject line “Do you remember how you felt?,” while the president was in the middle of an impromptu press conference denying he had problems with mental acuity may want to start looking for another job.
If there was ever an example of bad timing, that’s it. How can one read something like that and not think, “It’s not a question of my remembering. Does Biden?” It stepped totally on the message. Fortunately for Biden and his hopes for a second term, the late-night comedians who define political humor didn’t catch on to this fast enough to get it into their monologues — even though there’s nothing all that funny about it.
Nonetheless, by focusing on what special counsel Robert Hur wrote about Biden’s failing memory in his report on his mishandling of confidential government files dating from his time as vice president, they missed the more significant nugget in Hur’s explanation of why there would be no indictment.
Remember, the Biden Justice Department indicted former President Donald J. Trump over the same issue. The outcomes were different, Hur explained, not just because Biden couldn’t remember things but because he cooperated with the investigation while Trump didn’t.
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The former president was not afforded the same luxury as his predecessors. His suggestion the Biden Justice Department rushed the case into court to damage him politically now looks stronger.
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If Biden did any of the things with classified materials that Trump is accused of doing — and Hur’s report makes it pretty clear he did — then the DOJ either erred in not moving forward with an indictment or was wrong to have indicted Trump. Or at least that’s a more substantial argument today than it was when the week began.
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A former UPI senior political writer and U.S. News and World Report columnist, Peter Roff is a senior fellow at several public policy organizations.