Florida Republican Rep. Matt Gaetz on Tuesday grilled former special counsel Robert Hur about why no charges were brought against President Joe Biden and his book ghostwriter for their mishandling of classified documents.
Hur produced a report in February concluding that Biden willfully kept classified documents, but he opted not to press for the prosecution of the president, stating that a conviction was unlikely due to Biden being “a sympathetic, well-meaning, elderly man with a poor memory.”
Gaetz wrecked this defense of the Department of Justice failing to hold Joe Biden to the same or even lower standards to that being held to former President Donald Trump in his own classified documents case.
Furthermore, Gaetz points out that Joe Biden lied to the Special Counsel.
MATT GAETZ: Joe Biden said, "I guarantee I did not share classified information." That's not true, is it?
— KanekoaTheGreat (@KanekoaTheGreat) March 12, 2024
HUR: "That is inconsistent with the findings."
MATT GAETZ: Joe Biden said, "All the classified documents were in lockable filing cabinets." That's not true, is it?
HUR:… pic.twitter.com/kzDkIAPRkW
This is critical because this is clearly a legal basis for adding obstruction of justice charges in Biden’s case, in addition to his reckless mishandling of classified information.
Matt Gaetz gets Hur to admit Biden lied about where he kept files and insisting he did not share classified papers with his ghostwriter.
— Julie Kelly 🇺🇸 (@julie_kelly2) March 12, 2024
This could rise to the level of obstruction.
Gaetz blasting Hur for using the "Senile cooperator theory" for not charging Biden.
“Matt Gaetz gets Hur to admit Biden lied about where he kept files and insisting he did not share classified papers with his ghostwriter,” noted legal analyst Julie Kelly. “This could rise to the level of obstruction.”
“Gaetz blasting Hur for using the ‘Senile cooperator theory’ for not charging Biden,” she added.
In addition, the release of Joe Biden’s testimony to Hur shows that he lied about the Special Counsel raising the death of his son.
“I don’t need anyone, anyone, to remind me when he passed away,” Biden said of the special counsel. “How the hell dare he raise that.”
“Frankly, when I was asked the question, I thought to myself, was it any of their damn business?” the president said.
The transcript shows that Biden raised the subject of his son’s death but could not recall the year, nor the years when he was in office.
Did you omit a major section of the transcript here? pic.twitter.com/9sTfwvT1DU
— Madeleine Hubbard (@MadeleineHubb) March 12, 2024
Rep. Gaetz also criticized Hur for not bringing charges against the ghostwriter for ostensible obstruction of justice.
“Just so everybody knows, the ghostwriter didn’t just delete the recordings as a matter of happenstance,” Gaetz said. “Ghostwriter has recordings of Biden making admissions of crimes, he then learns that you’ve been appointed, he then deletes the information that is the evidence, and you don’t charge him.”
Hur began to proffer an explanation before Gaetz interrupted his answer.
“Like, what does somebody have to do to get charged with obstruction of justice by you?” Gaetz asked. “If deleting the evidence of crimes doesn’t count, what would meet the standard?”
Hur said that the ghostwriter did not delete all of the evidence, but had retained some of the transcripts.
“Oh, so if you destroy some evidence but not other evidence, that somehow absolves you of the evidence you destroy?” Gaetz asked.
The Florida congressman argued that both Biden and the ghostwriter should have been charged for their actions based on the law and the evidence.
“Biden and Trump should have been treated equally,” Gaetz added. “They weren’t. And that is the double standard I think a lot of Americans are concerned about.”
