Robert Hur says he did not ‘sanitize’ his comments on Biden’s memory in special report
Another week, another set of primaries as Georgia, Mississippi, Washington, and Hawaii are holding Republican nominating contests and all except Hawaii are also holding Democratic nominations. President Joe Biden and former President Donald Trump are expected to clinch their positions as their respective party’s candidates.
Meanwhile, transcripts of Mr Biden’s two-day interview with Department of Justice investigators reveal that he had a much more accurate memory of past events than described in the report released by Special Counsel Robert Hur.
The transcripts of the October 2023 interviews take up 268 pages and show a more detailed picture of Mr Biden’s capabilities than was written by Mr Hur, the former Trump administration appointee who Attorney General Merrick Garland brought on as a special counsel to investigate how classified documents ended up at Mr Biden’s former Washington, DC office and his Wilmington, Delaware home.
This comes as Mr Hur testifies before the House Judiciary Committee today after releasing the scathing and much-criticised report.
On Tuesday, a US House of Representatives committee also held a hearing on a three-year unsolved mystery: The 6 January pipe bombs outside the Democratic National Committee (DNC) and the Republican National Committee (RNC) buildings in Washington, DC.
Ken Buck to leave Congress next week, further narrowing GOP majority in House
Colorado Rep Ken Buck has announced that not only will he not seek reelection, but he will also step down from Congress at the end of next week.
His departure will further narrow the Republican majority in the House of Representatives, bringing it down to just five seats.
Oliver O’Connell12 March 2024 19:07
New light cast on Biden’s memory about son Beau’s death in special counsel transcript
Transcripts of President Joe Biden’s two-day interview with Department of Justice investigators shows Mr Biden having far more accurate recall and command of past events than was described in the report authored by Special Counsel Robert Hur.
The transcripts of the interviews, which were obtained by The Independent, were conducted on 8 and 9 October of last year at the White House, just one day after the 7 October terror attacks on Israel by Hamas.
They span 268 pages and paint a far more nuanced picture of Mr Biden’s faculties than was depicted by Mr Hur, a former Trump administration appointee who Attorney General Merrick Garland brought on as a special counsel to investigate how classified documents ended up at Mr Biden’s former Washington, DC office and his Wilmington, Delaware home.
Oliver O’Connell12 March 2024 18:30
Florida’s ‘Don’t Say Gay’ law stripped of ‘most dangerous and discriminatory’ impacts
A signature policy under Florida Governor Ron DeSantis that saw national copycat legislation can’t be used to restrict speech in schools about gender identity and sexual orientation.
Two years after a group of Florida families and LGBT+ civil rights groups sued the state over what opponents have called the “Don’t Say Gay” law, the DeSantis administration reached a settlement on Monday that strips the law’s “most dangerous and discriminatory” impacts, according to plaintiffs.
Oliver O’Connell12 March 2024 18:00
‘This hearing could’ve been an email’
Alyssa Farah Griffin, the former Trump staffer turned co-host of The View, has the most succinct summary of this morning’s Robert Hur hearing.
She tweeted: “He stands by his report, he declines to overreach & make judgments about Biden’s mental acuity, he recognizes the major differences in Biden& Trump cases. He wishes everyone handled classified info better. This hearing could’ve been an email.”
Oliver O’Connell12 March 2024 17:48
Schiff says Hur made ‘political choice’ by leaving certain language about Biden in report
Oliver O’Connell12 March 2024 17:30
Garrett Haake of NBC News notes: “House Republicans are learning the hard lesson Democrats learned from Robert Mueller’s testimony: these career prosecutors aren’t going to chase your theory or leading question. They’re going to refer to their report. Over and over and over.”
Oliver O’Connell12 March 2024 17:15
Hur says Garland did not interfere in investigation
Democrat Rep Joe Neguse points out that, unlike former Attorney General Bill Barr with the Mueller report, Attorney General Merrick Garland did not try to spin Hur’s report ahead of time to Joe Biden’s benefit.
“AG Garland did not interfere with my efforts, and I was able to conduct a fair, thorough, and independent investigation,” Hur says.
Rep Jim Jordan then chips in to say that there is one big difference — Mr Barr did not name Mr Mueller as special counsel. He was named by then-Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein, calling it a “huge difference”.
Oliver O’Connell12 March 2024 17:05
