News networks are riveted to another congressional hearing this morning, this time former Special Counsel Robert Hur‘s testimony on his report that concluded that Joe Biden should not face charges over his handling of classified documents. Hur, though, also highlighted the president’s memory lapses.
Hur is testifying before the House Judiciary Committee, which is known for its contentiousness and theatrics. The opening of the hearing featured Republicans showing a video of Biden and Democrats presenting footage of Donald Trump, dueling efforts to claim cognitive decline.
Throughout the morning, Hur is expected to face criticism from the right on why the president wasn’t prosecuted and on the left for why he decided to describe Biden as an “elderly man with a poor memory.” Following the release of the report last month, Biden appeared at a hastily called press conference and pushed back on Hur’s characterization of his mental state during his deposition, particularly for the suggestion that he could not remember when his son, Beau, died.
In the hours before Hur’s appearance, news outlets reported on the details of Biden’s deposition transcript, including one exchange where there is discussion of the month when his son died. The transcript is a bit more nuanced, as a number of outlets are putting it, than the idea that Biden had no recollection of the specifics. He recalled the exact day as others reminded him of the year.
In his opening remarks, Rep. Jim Jordan (R-OH), the chairman of the Judiciary Committee, highlighted the references to Biden’s memory lapses in Hur’s report while insisting the president “broke the law.”
Jordan also played a video of Biden’s press conference from last month, to try to show the president’s contradictions. That video, however, was countered by one presented by the committee’s ranking member, Rep. Jerry Nadler (D-NY), highlighting Trump’s own memory lapses.
