Posted by Key events
Hur to testify as private citizen after leaving justice department
Robert Hur, the former Trump-appointed special counsel who spent the last year investigating Joe Biden’s handling of classified documents, will testify before the House judiciary committee as a private citizen after leaving the justice department.
According to a report by the Independent, Hur arranged his departure from the justice department to be official as of Monday 11 March, meaning that he will appear on Capitol Hill as a private citizen with no constraints on his testimony.
The paper quoted a House judiciary committee source as saying that Hur’s departure from government service a day before his scheduled appearance is a “major red flag for Democrats” and makes it “more problematic”.
Hur finished up his work last week and is no longer with the justice department, according to a department spokesperson.
Special counsel Robert Hur to testify on Biden classified documents probe
Good morning US politics readers. Robert Hur is set to testify this morning in front of the Republican-controlled House judiciary committee weeks after his report into Joe Biden’s handling of classified documents after his vice-presidency.
In his report released in February, Hur, a former US attorney appointed by Donald Trump, recommended Biden not be charged for possessing classified documents while criticizing the president’s ability to recall events, saying that a potential jury would likely find him to be a “sympathetic, well-meaning, elderly man with a poor memory.”
Hur’s report drew immediate backlash from the president’s Democratic allies and from Biden himself, who angrily pushed back on comments about his mental acuity particularly over Hur’s mention that he “did not remember, even within several years, when his son Beau died.” Biden said of the special counsel at the time:
I don’t need anyone, anyone, to remind me when he passed away. How the hell dare he raise that.
But the transcript of the interview contradicts the president’s characterization, and appears to show Biden indeed struggled to recall the exact year his son’s death occurred. It was also Biden himself who first brought up Beau’s death, not Hur, the transcript showed.
Hur will face withering questions from both parties when the committee convenes at 10am ET today. Led by Trump ally Jim Jordan, the panel’s Republicans have spearheaded much of the House GOP’s investigations into Biden, including the effort to impeach him.
Meanwhile, Georgia, Mississippi and Washington hold their primary elections today, and Hawaii is holding its Republican caucuses. Democrats abroad and in the Northern Mariana territory vote today as well. Although Biden and Trump are the presumed Democratic and Republican nominees, the election in Georgia will offer a preview of what’s to come in November in a state that Biden won in 2020 and where Trump is facing multiple indictments.
Here’s what else we’re watching today (all times Eastern):
-
10am. The House judiciary committee will hear testimony from special counsel Robert Hur
-
10.30am. The Senate will meet to take up the first of several judicial nominations.
-
12pm. Joe Biden will participate in a campaign meeting in Washington with Teamsters members.
-
1.30pm. The White House daily press briefing.
-
3.45pm. Kamala Harris will depart San Francisco and fly to Denver to speak at a campaign fundraiser.
-
4pm Biden will meet with Poland’s president, Andrzej Duda, and prime minister, Donald Tusk.