Former Special Counsel Robert Hur testifies on findings from Biden classified documents probe

Ex-Special Counsel Robert Hur testified on Tuesday that he "did not exonerate" President Biden in his report detailing the investigation into mishandling of classified records, repeatedly shutting down Democratic lawmakers’ characterizations.

Hur, who resigned as special counsel after releasing his report which found Biden willfully retained classified records but did not bring charges against him, testified publicly Tuesday. 

Democrats seized on the fact that Hur did not bring charges against the president, claiming he exonerated the president completely. 

"President Biden acted responsibly, cooperated completely, and the decision to… decline criminal charges, was relatively straightforward," the top Democrat on the House Judiciary Committee, Rep. Jerry Nadler, D-N.Y., said Tuesday morning. "The report represents the complete and total exoneration of President Biden." 

"The special counsel exonerates President Biden," the top Democrat on the House Oversight Committee, Jamie Raskin, said Tuesday. 

Democratic Rep. Pramila Jayapal, D-Wash., also said Hur "exonerated him." But Hur pushed back. "I did not exonerate him," Hur told Jayapal. "That word does not appear in my report." 

Read the rest of the story here.

Fox News Digital's Brooke Singman contributed to this report.

Department of Justice Special Counsel Robert Hur listens during a House Judiciary Committee hearing on Tuesday on Capitol Hill in Washington. (AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin)

President Biden kept documents about Afghanistan after his vice presidency, some of which were stored in unsecure places in his home.

One of the documents was a Thanksgiving memo, in which he had a strong motive to keep classified material, Rep. Ben Cline, R-Va.

"You outline what that motive is. Can you tell me what is the motive for keeping the Thanksgiving Day memo?" Cline asked Hur.

"One of the motives that we addressed in the report was that the the issue of whether or not a troop surge should be sent to Afghanistan in 2009 was a hotly contested and debated issue within the Obama administration back in 2009 and one in which by then Vice President Biden had a significant role," Hur replied. "And he felt very strongly about."

According to Hur's report, Biden "believed President Obama's 2008 troop surge was a mistake on par with Vietnam and wanted the record to show that he was right about Afghanistan, that his critics were wrong, and that he had opposed President Obama's mistaken decision forcefully when it was made that his judgment was sound when it mattered most."

U.S. Rep Cori Bush, D-Missouri questioned former Special Counsel Robert Hur on Tuesday.

Rep. Cori Bush, D-Missouri, accused Republicans of using former Special Counsel Robert Hur’s report to increase their effort to get former President Trump re-elected. 

“As my colleagues have pointed out, President Biden fully complied with the investigation conducted by special counsel Hur, who did not find evidence sufficient to warrant criminal charges, Bush said during Hur’s testimony on Tuesday.

“Despite this outcome, Republicans have used the special counsel's report to further their longstanding efforts to re-elect the former white supremacist in chief, Donald Trump, who faces 40 criminal charges related to the mishandling of classified documents, including obstruction of justice," Bush added.

Rep. Adam Schiff, D-Calif., speaks during a House Judiciary Committee hearing with Department of Justice Special Counsel Robert Hur. (AP/Jacquelyn Martin)

Rep. Adam Schiff, D-Calif., argued Tuesday that Special Counsel Robert Hur “disparaged” President Biden by writing about him in his report with terms he “had to know would have a maximal political impact.” 

Schiff said to Hur that “you decided to go further and make a generalized statement about his memory, didn't you? 

“Congressman, I could have written my report theoretically in a way that omitted references to the president's memory. But that would have been an incomplete and improper report,” Hur replied. 

“Mr. Hur, you cannot tell me you're so naive as to think your words would not have created a political firestorm. You understood that, didn't you, when you wrote those words, when you decided to include those words, when you decided to go beyond specific references to documents, you understood how they would be manipulated by my colleagues here on the GOP side of the aisle by President Trump. You understood that, did you not?” Schiff then asked. 

“Congressman, what I understood is the regulations that govern my conduct as special counsel. And those regulations require me to write a confidential report for the attorney general,” Hur responded. 

Schiff concluded by telling Hur that “You understood that you made a choice. That was a political choice. It was the wrong choice.” 

Hur, when asked if Biden is ‘outright innocent,’ says ‘that conclusion is not reflected in my report’ 

Rep. Darrell Issa, R-Calif., asked former Special Counsel Robert Hur Tuesday if he reached a conclusion that President Biden was “outright innocent” and was told in response “that conclusion is not reflected in my report, sir.” 

“I viewed my task of my decision... to the attorney general as being based on my judgment. My assessment of the evidence would have would a conviction at trial be the probable outcome,” Hur said. 

"And I just want to make sure the record is complete in that, because I think it's extremely important. You did not reach an idea that he had committed no wrong. You reached a conclusion that you would not prevail at trial and therefore did not take it forward. Is that correct?” Issa then asked. 

“Correct, Congressman,” Hur responded. 

Former Special Counsel Robert Hur clashed with Georgia Rep. Hank Johnson Tuesday after the Democrat accused him of using his report to “trash and smear President Biden because he said in response, in response to questions over a five-hour interview that he didn't recall how got the documents.  

“And you knew that that would play into the Republicans’ narrative that the president is unfit for office because he's senile. And the American people saw during the state of the union address that that was not true,” Johnson said. “But yet that's what you tried to offer to them and that's why they are having you here today so that they can expand upon that narrative. And you knew that that's what was going to happen, didn't you?  

“Congressman, I reject the suggestion you have just made,” Hur responded. “That is not what happened.  

“Partisan politics played no part whatsoever in my work.” Hur continued as Johnson began talking over him. “My work was independent.” 

Johnson then told Hur that “you're doing everything you can do to get President Trump reelected so that you can get appointed as federal judge or perhaps to another position in the Department of Justice. Isn't that correct?  

“Congressman, I have no such aspirations, I can assure you. And I can tell you that partisan politics had no place whatsoever in my work,” he said in response. “It had no place in in the investigative steps that I took. It had no place in the decision that I made. And it had no place in a single word of my report.” 

Ex-Special Counsel Robert Hur agreed that he identified evidence that "pride and money" were "strong" motivating factors for President Biden to retain classified records, as the former vice president sought to keep materials to use for a memoir he wrote that brought him $8 million.

House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jim Jordan questioned Hur during a public hearing Tuesday and asked him "why did Joe Biden, in your words, willfully retain and disclose classified material?" 

"He knew the law. Been in office like 50 years, five decades in the United States Senate; chairman of the Foreign Relations Committee; eight years as vice president; he got briefed every day as vice president; he’s been in the Situation Room," Jordan said. "In fact you know he knew the rules because you said so on page 226." 

When pressed on why Biden broke those rules, Hur replied that his "conclusion as to exactly why the president did what he did is not one that we explicitly address in the report." 

But Jordan pushed back. 

"I think he did tell us," Jordan said. "I think you told us, Mr. Hur. Page 231. You said this: ‘President Biden had strong motivations,’ that’s a key word. We’re getting to motive now. ‘President Biden had strong motivations to ignore the proper procedures for safeguarding the classified information in his notebooks.’" 

"Why did he have strong motivations? Because, next word, because he decided months before leaving office to write a book," Jordan said. "That was his motive. He knew the rules. He broke them because he was writing a book." 

Department of Justice Special Counsel Robert Hur listens during a House Judiciary Committee hearing on Tuesday. (AP/Jacquelyn Martin)

The newly released transcript of Special Counsel Robert Hur's interview with President Biden has confirmed the president's frequent memory lapses, as well as contradicted his claims surrounding their exchange over his son Beau's death, a Fox News Digital review of the transcript has found.

Fox News Digital obtained a copy of the transcript ahead of Hur's Tuesday testimony on Capitol Hill surrounding the probe into Biden's mishandling of classified documents. Hur released his report to the public in February, but did not recommend criminal charges against the president, characterizing him as an "elderly man with a poor memory." 

Hur noted in the report that Biden struggled to remember details about when his son died, which drew sharp backlash from the president, who blasted Hur during a press conference.

"How in the h--- dare he raise that," Biden said. "Frankly, when I was asked the question I thought to myself it wasn’t any of their d--- business."

However, Fox later confirmed it was actually Biden who first brought up Beau's death, a detail also reflected in the transcript.

Ex-Special Counsel Robert Hur testified Tuesday that President Biden "willfully retained classified materials," but said he "had to consider" the president’s "memory and overall mental state" when determining whether to bring charges against him.

Hur, who testified publicly before the House Judiciary and Oversight Committees Tuesday, explained that he did not bring charges against the president despite the willful retention of classified records about military and foreign policy in Afghanistan and other countries, among other records related to national security and foreign policy, which Hur said implicated "sensitive intelligence sources and methods."

"My team and I conducted a thorough, independent investigation," Hur testified. "We identified evidence that the President willfully retained classified materials after the end of his vice presidency, when he was a private citizen." 

"This evidence included an audiorecorded conversation during which Mr. Biden told his ghostwriter that he had ‘just found all the classified stuff downstairs.' When Mr. Biden said this, he was a private citizen speaking to his ghostwriter in his private rental home in Virginia," Hur continued. "We also identified other recorded conversations during which Mr. Biden read classified information aloud to his ghostwriter."

He added, though, that "we did not, however, identify evidence that rose to the level of proof beyond a reasonable doubt. Because the evidence fell short of that standard, I declined to recommend criminal charges against Mr. Biden." 

Rep. Tom McClintock warned of an “unprecedented assault on our democracy” Tuesday during the hearing on former Special Counsel Robert Hur’s report on President Biden’s handling of classified documents. 

“As you correctly noted in your report, that former presidents and other senior officials have been given wide latitude in their possession of classified information and I believe your decision not to prosecute Biden for the same offense is consistent with that precedent. But the problem is that precedent changed with the administration's decision to prosecute Donald Trump,” said McClintontock, a Republican. 

“And the irony is that as president, Trump had full discretion over handling classified material and full discretion in deciding which records to retain. As a senator or vice president, Joe Biden didn't have that. So now we get to this glaring double standard. I think it would be toxic to the rule of law on its face if it was just two ordinary citizens,” he continued. “But the fact that the only person being prosecuted for this offense happens to be the president's political opponent makes this an unprecedented assault on our democracy. This is the worst we could expect from a banana republic. And I wonder how you square this.” 

“Congressman, I do address, as I was required to as a prosecutor, a relevant precedent in the form of the allegations in the indictment against former President Trump. I set forth my explanation in my assessment and comparison of those precedents in my report and I am not here to comment any further beyond this report,” Hur responded. 

Department of Justice Special Counsel Robert Hur is sworn in before a House Judiciary Committee hearing on Tuesday. (AP/Jacquelyn Martin)

House Oversight Committee Ranking Member Jamie Raskin said Tuesday that former "Special Counsel Hur repeatedly emphasizes" in his report "that President Biden's conduct contrasts sharply with that of former President Trump” when it comes to the matter of handling classified documents. 

“Given that this report is so damning in the contrast between Biden and Trump, it is hard for me to see why our colleagues think that this hearing advances their flailing and embarrassing quest to impeach the president of the United States,” said Raskin, D-Maryland. “What America sees today is evidence of one president who believes in the rule of law and works to protect it, and one who has nothing but contempt for the rule of law enacted solely in pursuit of his own constantly multiplying corrupt schemes." 

Hur, who released his report to the public in February, did not recommend criminal charges against Biden for mishandling and retaining classified documents and stated that he wouldn't bring charges against Biden even if he were not in the Oval Office. 

Trump, on the other hand, was charged out of Special Counsel Jack Smith's investigation related to his retention of classified materials. Trump pleaded not guilty to all 37 felony charges out of Smith's probe. The charges include willful retention of national defense information, conspiracy to obstruct justice and false statements. 

Fox News’ Brooke Singman contributed to this report. 

A Biden press conference from February is played during the hearing on the report of former Special Counsel Robert Hur. (AP/Jacquelyn Martin)

House Judiciary Committee Ranking Member Jerrold Nadler told Chairman Jim Jordan Tuesday that “I'm glad you have such admiration for the president that you allowed him to take the first 10 minutes of this hearing.” 

Nadler, a Democrat from New York, made the comment after Jordan replayed a press conference of Biden speaking about the findings of former Special Counsel Robert Hur’s report into his handling of classified documents, in which Jordan said Biden made claims that “directly contradicted” what Hur uncovered. 

"President Biden acted responsibly, cooperated completely, and the decision to decline criminal charges was relatively straightforward. In short, to borrow a phrase from the last administration, the Hur report represents the complete and total exoneration of President Biden,” Nadler said. 

Staff place a name placard for Special Counsel Robert Hur ahead of a hearing of the House Judiciary Committee in the Rayburn House Office Building on Capitol Hill in Washington. (AP/Nathan Howard)

House Judiciary Chairman Jim Jordan began former Special Counsel Robert Hur’s testimony hearing Tuesday by playing a video of Biden speaking about Hur’s report the day it was released. 

"Mr. Hur produced a 345-page report. But in the end, it boils down to a few key facts. Joe Biden kept classified information,” Jordan said. “Joe Biden failed to properly secure classified information. And Joe Biden shared classified information with people he wasn't supposed to. 

“We're going to play a short video of President Biden's press conference after your report was released,” Jordan added. “Because there's things in this press conference that the United States says that are directly contradicted by what you found in your report.” 

A transcript of President Biden's interviews with Robert Hur appears to contradict Biden's claim that the former Special Counsel had asked him about the date of Beau Biden's death. 

Code Pink protesters demonstrate before a House Judiciary Committee hearing Tuesday. (Fox News/Pool)

Pro-Palestinian demonstrators are protesting inside the Rayburn House Office Building on Tuesday in the moments before former Special Counsel Robert Hur will testify.

"We cannot be silent about these war crimes," a woman could be heard saying inside the hearing room.

"Congressmen must stop funding war crimes and crimes in Gaza. Stop funding genocide in Gaza. These are real children," the woman added.

Special Counsel Robert Hur arrives ahead of a hearing of the House Judiciary Committee in the Rayburn House Office Building on Capitol Hill in Washington on Tuesday, March 12. (AP/Nathan Howard)

Former Special Counsel Robert Hur has arrived at the Rayburn House Office Building on Tuesday ahead of his 10 a.m. testimony in front of the House Judiciary Committee.

Hur did not respond to questions from reporters and made his way into the hearing room.

Robert Hur, in his prepared opening testimony to the House Judiciary Committee, will say his "report reflects my best effort to explain why I declined to recommend charging President Biden" for his mishandling of classified records."

"My assessment in the report about the relevance of the President’s memory was necessary and accurate and fair," Hur wrote in a copy of the remarks obtained by Fox News. "Most importantly, what I wrote is what I believe the evidence shows, and what I expect jurors would perceive and believe. I did not sanitize my explanation. Nor did I disparage the President unfairly. I explained to the Attorney General my decision and the reasons for it. That’s what I was required to do."

President Biden and former President Trump. (AP)

Former President Trump claimed Tuesday that the Justice Department has given President Biden a "free pass" when it comes to handling classified documents.

"Big day in Congress for the Biden Documents Hoax," Trump wrote on his Truth Social account. "He had many times more documents, including classified documents, than I, or any other president, had. He had them all over the place, with ZERO supervision or security. He does NOT come under the Presidential Records Act, I DO."

"The DOJ gave Biden, and virtually every other person and President, a free pass. Me, I’m still fighting!!!" Trump added.

Hur, who released his report to the public in February, did not recommend criminal charges against Biden for mishandling and retaining classified documents and stated that he wouldn't bring charges against Biden even if he were not in the Oval Office.

Trump, on the other hand, was charged out of Special Counsel Jack Smith's investigation related to his retention of classified materials. Trump pleaded not guilty to all 37 felony charges out of Smith's probe. The charges include willful retention of national defense information, conspiracy to obstruct justice and false statements.

Fox News' Brooke Singman contributed to this report.

Rep. Jim Jordan joined 'Fox & Friends' on Tuesday to discuss former Special Counsel Robert Hur's upcoming congressional hearing on President Biden's memory and mental state.

“I think Special Counsel Hur had one fundamental question to address: Did Joe Biden keep and share classified information? And the answer to that question is a resounding yes,” Jordan said. 

“He shared classified information with the ghostwriter of his book, so that is clear. We are going to probe all those areas,” Jordan added. 

A transcript of President Biden's interviews with Robert Hur appears to contradict Biden's claim that the former Special Counsel had asked him about the date of Beau Biden's death. 

“How in the hell dare he raise that,” Biden said about Hur on the day the report was released. "Frankly, when I was asked the question, I thought to myself it wasn’t any of their damn business.” 

In a copy of the transcripts obtained by Fox News, it appears Biden himself was the one who brought up the timing of Beau’s passing when speaking to Hur about his time living at a rental home in Virginia in 2017, after leaving his role as vice president. 

“So during this time when you were living at Chain Bridge Road and there were documents relating to the Penn Biden Center, or the Biden Institute, or the Cancer Moonshot, or your book, where did you keep papers that related to those things that you were actively working on?” Hur asked Biden. 

"This is, what, 2017, 2018, that area?" Biden responded, before later saying "and so what was happening, though - what month did Beau die? Oh, God, May 30th." 

A White House lawyer then said 2015. 

"Was it 2015 he had died?" Biden said. 

Transcripts of President Biden’s interviews with former Special Counsel Robert Hur have revealed that he repeatedly told prosecutors that he did not know how classified documents ended up at his home and former Penn Biden Center office in Washington, according to The Associated Press.

“I have no idea,” Biden reportedly said, adding that had he known they were there, he would have returned them to the government.

The president did acknowledge that he intentionally kept his personal diaries -- which officials said contained classified information. Biden insisted were his own property, a claim also asserted by previous presidents and vice presidents, and that he had a right to keep them.

Biden said that he left it to his staff to safeguard classified information that was presented to him, often leaving papers on his desk in heaps for aides to sort through and secure.

“I never asked anybody,” Biden said. He noted that much of his staff had worked with him for years, to the point where they didn't need direction from him. "It just - it just got done. I don’t know. I can’t remember who.”

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

Robert Hur will say in his testimony that "There has been a lot of attention paid to language in the report about the President’s memory." (Zach Gibson/Getty Images)

Robert Hur, in his prepared opening testimony to the House Judiciary Committee, will say his "report reflects my best effort to explain why I declined to recommend charging President Biden" for his mishandling of classified records.

"My assessment in the report about the relevance of the President’s memory was necessary and accurate and fair," Hur wrote in a copy of the remarks obtained by Fox News. "Most importantly, what I wrote is what I believe the evidence shows, and what I expect jurors would perceive and believe. I did not sanitize my explanation. Nor did I disparage the President unfairly. I explained to the Attorney General my decision and the reasons for it. That’s what I was required to do."

"I analyzed the evidence as prosecutors routinely do: by assessing its strengths and weaknesses, including by anticipating the ways in which the President’s defense lawyers might poke holes in the government’s case if there were a trial and seek to persuade jurors that the government could not prove his guilt beyond a reasonable doubt," Hur added.

Hur also will say: "There has been a lot of attention paid to language in the report about the President’s memory, so let me say a few words about that. My task was to determine whether the President retained or disclosed national defense information “willfully”—meaning, knowingly and with the intent to do something the law forbids. I could not make that determination without assessing the President’s state of mind."

Fox News' Tyler Olson contributed to this report.

Hur is expected to testify around 10 a.m. ET. (AP/Alex Brandon)

Former Special Counsel Robert Hur, in his report on President Biden’s alleged improper retention of classified records, did not recommend criminal charges against President Biden. 

"We conclude that no criminal charges are warranted in this matter," said the report, which was released in early February. "We would reach the same conclusion even if the Department of Justice policy did not foreclose criminal charges against a sitting president." 

The special counsel described Biden as "a sympathetic, well-meaning, elderly man with a poor memory."  

"We have also considered that, at trial, Mr. Biden would likely present himself to a jury, as he did during our interview of him, as a sympathetic, well-meaning, elderly man with a poor memory," Hur wrote in the report. "Based on our direct interactions with and observations of him, he is someone from whom many jurors will want to identify reasonable doubt. It would be difficult to convince a jury that they should convict him—by then a former president well into his eighties—of a serious felony that requires a mental state of willfulness." 

Rep. Andy Biggs, R-Ariz., joined 'Fox & Friends First' on Tuesday to discuss former Special Counsel Robert Hur's upcoming testimony.

“We’re going to focus on Joe Biden’s mental capacity... if he is bad off that you can’t prosecute him, should he be running the greatest nation in the history of the world?” Biggs said. 

“Second thing is, we are going to explore all the cavalier ways that Joe Biden left classified documents all over the place,” he added. 

“The third thing that I think that is important is, was this willful and intentional? And I think that we are going to find that it was willful and intentional,” Biggs also said. “When I say that, was he telling people about this classified information and the actual reality is he was. And he knew it was classified and he knew he didn’t have authority. He was trained in it for 50 years. Good grief, and he’s out there passing classified information around and that is a clear violation of the law.”

Hur, in his report, did not recommend criminal charges against Biden for mishandling and retaining classified documents. (Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images)

The Justice Department last week didn't turn over transcripts or audio recordings of former Special Counsel Robert Hur’s interview with President Biden despite a subpoena requesting that they were to be provided by Thursday, March 7, according to the House Judiciary Committee. 

The development comes after Republicans leading an impeachment inquiry into the President’s mishandling of classified documents wrote a letter to Attorney General Merrick Garland in February notifying him of the subpoena. 

"We received a small production from DOJ, but not the transcripts or audio that we need and requested," House Judiciary Committee spokesman Russel Dye told Fox News on Friday. "Our staff has all necessary clearances to review the contents of the President’s interview, which dealt with materials found in unsecured areas like garages, closets and commercial office space.  We are evaluating next steps." 

A source familiar with the subpoena told Fox News late last month that the deadline to hand over the materials was March 7 at 9 a.m. ET.   

Fox News' David Spunt and Tyler Olson contributed to this report.

House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jim Jordan, left, is looking for Special Counsel Robert Hur to testify about his investigation into President Biden. (Getty Images)

Former Special Counsel Robert Hur is expected to testify on Capitol Hill on his findings following months of investigating President Biden's mishandling of classified records.

Hur will testify publicly at the House Judiciary Committee on Tuesday at 10 a.m. 

Hur, who released his report to the public in February, did not recommend criminal charges against Biden for mishandling and retaining classified documents and stated that he wouldn't bring charges against Biden even if he were not in the Oval Office.

Those records included classified documents about military and foreign policy in Afghanistan and other countries, among other records related to national security and foreign policy, which Hur said implicated "sensitive intelligence sources and methods."

Hur did not recommend any charges against the president but did describe him as a "sympathetic, well-meaning elderly man with a poor memory" – a description that has raised significant concerns for Biden's 2024 re-election campaign.