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

Former special counsel Robert Hur would not specifically weigh in on whether or not Congress should have access to audio recordings related to his report when pressed by Republican committee Chairman Jim Jordan.

Jordan directly asked Hur: "Is there any reason why you can see why the American people and their representatives in United States Congress should not have access to those tapes?"

But Hur would not say either way, and instead responded by saying that his report did take into account the audio recordings. It was unclear which recordings Hur was referencing; given the way Jordan asked the question, it could have been regarding audio of Biden's interview with Hur or audio of Biden's conversations with his ghostwriter.

"Chairman, what I can tell you is that my assessment that went into my conclusions that I described, my report was based not solely on the transcript, it was based on all of the evidence, including the audio recordings," Hur said.

Jordan then asked Hur again, saying if he thought the audio recordings were "valuable evidence" for his report then "shouldn't the United States Congress have access to that same information?"

"It is not for me to weigh into what information Congress should or should not have" replied Hur, while reiterating that he believed "the audio recordings were part of the evidence, of course, that I considered in coming to my conclusions."

In a notable exchange, Hur took issue with Democrats' characterization that his report cleared President Biden of criminal wrongdoing, testifying that he "did not exonerate him."

Rep. Pramila Jayapal, D-Wash., questioning Hur about his report, stated that the "lengthy, expensive and independent investigation resulted in a complete exoneration of President Joe Biden."

Hur, looking to correct Jayapal's characterization, responded by saying, "I need to go back and make sure that I take note of a word that you use: Exoneration," he said. "That is not a word I used in the report and not part of my task--"

Jayapal then jumped in and began speaking over Hur, as she tried to argue that Hur's report indeed did "exonerate" Biden.

But Hur again pushed back, quickly replying: "I did not exonerate him, that word does not appear in the report."

Rep. Matt Gaetz, R-Fla., read an excerpt from the press conference that President Biden convened the night Hur's report was made public -- highlighting Biden's claim that he "did not share classified information" with his ghostwriter.

"That's not true, is it, Mr. Hur?" Gaetz asked.

"That is inconsistent with the findings based on the evidence in my report," Hur said.

When Gaetz called it a lie, "as regular people would say," Hur laughed.

Rep. Adam Schiff, D-Calif., picked up where his fellow Democrat Rep. Hank Johnson left off, accusing Hur of shading his report with his own "personal, prejudicial, subjective opinion of the president when you knew it would be amplified by his political opponent."

"You were not born yesterday," Schiff said. "You understood exactly what you were doing."

A visibly agitated Hur -- taking deep breaths, raising his voice, and attempting to speak over Schiff -- fired back, saying, What you are suggesting is that I shape, sanitize, omit portions of my reasoning and explanations to the attorney general for political reasons--"

"No, I suggest that you not shape your report for political reasons and that's what you did," Schiff shot back.

"That did not happen, Congressman," Hur replied. "That did not happen."