Gaetz presses Hur over not charging Biden ghostwriter: 'What does somebody have to do?'
Ghostwriter for Biden's memoir allegedly deleted audio recordings of president discussing classified docs
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Rep. Matt Gaetz, R-Fla., grilled former Special Counsel Robert Hur during a House hearing on Tuesday over not charging President Biden’s ghostwriter for destroying evidence pertaining to Hur’s investigation of Biden's handling of classified documents.
"What does somebody have to do to get charged with obstruction of justice by you?" Gaetz said to Hur, suggesting that the special counsel let Mark Zwonitzer – the ghostwriter on Biden’s memoir "Promise Me, Dad" – off the hook for deleting evidence.
According to Hur’s much-publicized report on the classified documents probe, Zwonitzer erased audio files in his possession that contained "significant evidentiary value" related to the documents held by Biden.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Hur's report states, "Zwonitzer's later actions – including the production to the special counsel of transcripts that mention classified information – suggest that his decision to delete the recordings was not aimed at concealing those materials from investigators. Significantly, Zwonitzer voluntarily consented to two interviews and could have, but did not, invoke the Fifth Amendment to decline to produce the transcripts, his laptop, and the external hard drive. And when FBI agents contacted Zwonitzer, they were unaware that audio recordings existed or where Zwonitzer's electronic devices were located."
NO CHARGES FOR BIDEN AFTER SPECIAL COUNSEL PROBE INTO IMPROPER HANDLING OF CLASSIFIED DOCUMENTS
Rep. Matt Gaetz, R-Fla., grills former Special Counsel Robert Hur during a House Judiciary Committee hearing on Tuesday. (Screenshot/CSPAN feed)
However, Hur’s report noted that Zwonitzer admitted to the FBI that he "was aware that there was an investigation" when he deleted the evidence, though he denied that he deleted them to prevent investigators from finding them. He also said in the report of the ongoing probe, "I'm not going to say how much of the percentage it was of my motivation."
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Gaetz was nonplussed.
"So, the ghostwriter purposefully deletes this evidence that seems to … show culpability of Biden’s crimes, and you don’t charge him?" Gaetz asked.
Hur said Zwonitzer told investigators he was "aware that I had been appointed special counsel and was conducting an investigation."
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Special Counsel Robert Hur and President Biden (Getty Images)
Gaetz took it from there, saying, "Just so everybody knows, the ghostwriter didn’t delete the recordings just as a matter of happenstance. Ghostwriter has recordings of Biden making admissions of crime. He then learns that you’ve been appointed. He then deletes the information that is the evidence, and you don’t charge him?"
He then asked what someone would have to do to get charged.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}"If, like, deleting evidence of crimes doesn’t count, what would meet the standard?" he added.
Hur explained the decision by saying that as he noted in his report, Zwonitzer did not delete "transcripts of the recordings that he had created, that included inculpatory evidence relating to Mr. Biden."
Gaetz did not appear to buy the justification for how Hur handled the ghostwriter.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}"Oh, so, if you destroy some evidence but not other evidence that somehow absolves you of the evidence you destroy," he said. "Like, here’s what I see. Zwonitzer should have been charged, wasn’t. Biden and Trump should have been treated equally. They weren’t. And that is the double standard that I think a lot of Americans are concerned about."