White House attorneys were furious at special counsel Robert Hur's personal attacks on President Joe Biden in his report recommending against charges over the stray classified documents discovered in his possession, reported The New York Times on Thursday — and fought with the Justice Department over their inclusion.
"The lawyers said Mr. Hur’s comments 'openly, obviously and blatantly violate department policy and practice,' the letters, obtained by The New York Times, show," reported Charlie Savage. However, one day after the letters were sent and just as the DOJ was planning to release the report, "Bradley Weinsheimer — an associate deputy attorney general and the department’s senior career official, or nonpolitical appointee — wrote back rejecting their criticism."
According to Weinsheimer, the report's statements on the president "fall well within the department’s standards for public release."
ALSO READ: Prison president: How Donald Trump could serve from behind bars
Hur, who was initially appointed U.S. attorney by former President Donald Trump, concluded that he did not have the evidence to charge Biden with a crime. However, he also added several claims about Biden showing poor memory in the interview and claimed that the current president would be able to mount a convincing defense to a jury that he was an “elderly man with a poor memory” who has “diminished faculties in advanced age.”
Along with the White House and Biden's personal attorneys, some legal experts have criticized the report for veering into political posturing. Palm Beach County Attorney Dave Aronberg panned the report as "sloppy" and riddled with contradictions.
Other reporting has indicated that Hur is planning to testify about the substance of his report to House Republicans, who are hoping to use his testimony to politically damage the president.
