Biden docs hearing: Hur defends not charging president, but says he wasn't exonerated

Special counsel Robert Hur said that President Biden did not say that he believed any documents -- other than his own handwritten notes -- were his personal property, in contrast to former President Trump who has claimed multiple times that he held onto hundreds of classified documents because they were "my documents."

“We did not hear that from the president during his interview,” Hur said, responding to Rep. Zoe Lofgren who asked if Biden believed any of the documents turned over to investigators were, in fact, his own.

Rep. Jordan then began his line of questioning to Hur by pressing him over whether he ever determined what President Biden’s motive was in the evidence that he uncovered that he possessed classified documents.

“Congressman, the conclusion as to exactly why the president did what he did is not one that we explicitly address in the report,” Hur answered. “The report explains my decision to the attorney general that no criminal charges were warranted in this manner.”

Chairman Jim Jordan, R-Ohio, then sought to draw a connection between Biden’s efforts to secure money for a book deal following his vice presidency and Hur’s findings regarding his possession of classified documents.

“Pride and money is why he knowingly violated the rules,” Jordan said. “The oldest motives in the book, pride and money.”

Hur confirmed that his investigation found evidence “supporting those assessments” and also confirmed details from his report that the ghostwriter tasked by Biden with writing his book attempted to delete the audio recordings of his conversations with Biden.

More than an hour into his testimony, Robert Hur appears poised under intense questioning from both sides -- swatting away lawmakers seeking to leverage his testimony in order to incriminate the other party's leader.

As lawmakers invoke fascism and level accusations of a two-tiered justice system, the former special counsel is striking a decidedly measured posture.

He has not indulged Democrats' attempts to draw him into comparisons between Biden and Trump -- at times appearing to frustrate some members, including Democratic Rep. Jerry Nadler. And he has not taken the bait from Republicans seeking to draw out details that could paint Joe Biden's conduct in a more negative light.

As he promised in his opening statement, Hur has restricted his testimony to the confines of his report.

Rep. Tom McClintock, R-CA, used his line of questioning to press Hur over whether it was "OK if I take home top secret documents, store them in my garage and read portions of them to friends or associates?"

"Congressman, I wouldn't recommend it," Hur said dryly. "But I don't want to entertain any hypotheticals."

"But you've essentially said so in your report!" McClintock responded. "And certainly it would be exculpatory if I simply told you, 'Hey, I'm getting old. I don't remember stuff the way I used to.'"

McClintock then argued that Hur had decided not to prosecute Biden "for the same offense" Trump has been charged with in his case involving unlawful retention of classified materials and efforts to obstruct the government's investigation -- even though Biden was not accused of obstruction.

"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," Hur said. "I set forth my explanation in my assessment and comparison to those precedents in my report, and I am not here to comment any further."

Under questioning from lawmakers, Republicans pressed Hur on how the evidence he gathered failed to indicate criminal behavior, while Democrats pressed him on comparisons between Biden's conduct and Trump's.

Rep. Kelly Armstrong, R-ND, began by outlining some of the underlying facts of Hur's investigation into Biden's handling of classified documents -- probing his determination that Biden shouldn't be charged with "willfully retaining national defense information," even as his report outlined evidence of various instances where he said Biden either knew he had classified materials or discussed having it with his ghostwriter.

"Congressman, part and parcel of a prosecutor's judgment as to whether or not a conviction is the probable outcome of trial is assessing how the evidence identified during the investigation lines up with the elements and what proof can be offered to a jury during a trial," Hur said.

"Sure, but this well-meaning elderly old man has nothing to do with the underlying elements of the crime?" Armstrong asked.

"It certainly has something to do with the way that a jury is going to perceive and receive and consider and conclude -- make conclusions based on evidence at trial," Hur responded.

Hur swatted away questions from Rep. Jerry Nadler, the ranking Democrat on the panel, who multiple times looked to have the special counsel comment or compare Biden's handling of documents to Trump's own legal issues.

Hur replied when specifically about allegations against Trump, "I am not intimately familiar with the facts relating to former President Trump."