The End Game for Mr Hur

For John, BLUF:  DOJ Special Prosecuter Robert K Hur concluded that the Federal Government should not prosecute President Joe Biden for the mishandling of classified information.  He did it in a way to protect Special Prosecutor Jack Smith's case againt Donald J Trump for a similar activity.  Nothing to see here; just move along.

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‘No, No, No, No, No’:  Rep. Byron Donalds, NBC Host Kristen Welker Clash Over Hur Report’s Conclusion

From The Daily Caller, by Reporter Hailey Gomez, 25 February 2024, 2:42 PM ET.

Here is the lede plus one:

Florida Republican Rep. Byron Donalds and NBC host Kristen Welker clashed Sunday over the conclusion from special counsel Robert Hur’s report which investigated President Biden’s handling of classified documents.

Donalds appeared on “Meet the Press” to discuss his support of former President Donald Trump for the upcoming general election.  During the interview, Welker questioned the congressman on a claim from Biden campaign co-chair Cedric Richmond calling a recent comment from Trump over his criminal charges “plain racist.”

My interest is further down, where Host Kristen Welker tried to say that Special Council Robert K Hur didn't have enough evidence:

“Hold on, I have to hit the pause button for one minute, Congressman, because the Hur report was very clear that there was not enough evidence to bring charges against President Biden and that ultimately there was not —,” Welker stated before Donalds cut in.

It would seem Ms Welker missed this sentence in Mr Hur's report:

Our investigation uncovered evidence that President Biden willfully retained and disclosed classified materials after his vice presidency when he was a private citizen.

That seems pretty straight forward.  As someone who has handled classified information I would take that as saying Mr Biden broke the rules.  If that sentence had been written about one of my Brothers i would recommend they hire a lawyer immnediately.  Handling classified information is serious business.

Perhaps Ms Welker was mislead by the first paragraph of Mr Hur's Report Executive Summary:

We conclude that no criminal charges are warranted in this matter.  We would reach the same conclusion even if Department of Justice policy did not foreclose criminal charges against a sitting president.

Yes, and the Report goes on:

However, for the reasons summarized below, we conclude that the evidence does not establish Mr. Biden's guilt beyond a reasonable doubt. Prosecution of Mr. Biden is also unwarranted based on our consideration of the aggravating and mitigating factors set forth in the Department of Justice's Principles of Federal Prosecution. For these reasons, we decline prosecution of Mr. Biden.

This is where the "diminished faculties and faulty memory" came in:

Mr. Biden's memory was significantly limited, both during his recorded interviews with the ghostwriter in 2017, and in his interview with our office in 2023.

The more expanded version is:

We have also considered that, at trial, Mr. Biden would likely present himself to a jury, as he did during our interview of him, as a sympathetic, well-meaning, elderly man with a poor memory,  Based on our direct interactions with and observations of him, he is someone for whom many jurors will want to identify reasonable doubt.  It would be difficult to convince a jury that they should convict him — by then a former president well into his eighties — of a serious felony that requires a mental state of willfulness.

I would suggesst that in order to prevent long term libility for the President, Mr Hur had to fuzz up the ability to obtain a guilty verdict.  If he did not, then his efforts to exonerate President Biden would then be turned against DoJ in terms of its efforts to prosecute President Trump.

I suggest that a conclusion was drawn that the easiest way to protect President Biden from prosecution, while not getting in the way of the prosecution of Mr Trump for similiar activites, was to suggest a jury would view Mr Biden sympathetically, due to his age and faulty memory.  He would remind them of a beloved Grandparent.

At the same time the President would need to be able to show his strength, so as to avoid removal from office under the Twenty-Fifth Amendment.  Or be removed from the Democratic Party 2024 ticket.

Meanwhile, the prosecution of Mr Trump could proceed.

It worked.  The report came out.  Mr Biden held a Press Conference where he did pretty well, showing himself fit to be President.  And, Mr Trump is still under indictment.

The down side is that this will increase the cynicism of a portion of our Citizens and lead to even more distrust of the Department of Justice.  If this group is merely from the Basket of Deplorables, then it may be an acceptable outcome for Democrats.

Regards  —  Cliff