In Tuesday's House Judiciary Committee hearing with special counsel Robert Hur, who investigated classified documents found in President Joe Biden's personal belongings, ranking member Rep. Jerrold Nadler (D-NY) tore into Republicans for misrepresenting the conclusions of the report — and went after former President Donald Trump's own issues with top secret materials, which have landed him in considerably more legal trouble.
"House Republicans may be desperate to convince America that white, conservative men are on the losing end of a two-tiered justice system, a theory that appeals to the MAGA crowd that has no basis in reality," said Nadler, addressing Chairman Jim Jordan (R-OH).
"But your comments today made me wonder if you have read the special counsel's report at all"
Nadler read off from the report, "At no point did the special counsel find evidence that Mr. Biden intended or had reason to believe the information will be used to injure the United States," that "the decision to decline criminal charges was straightforward," and that "Mr. Biden turned in classified documents to the National Archives and the Department of Justice, consented to the search of multiple locations, including his homes, sat for a voluntary interview, and in other ways cooperated with the investigation."
All of which contrasts with Trump, who is accused of repeatedly trying to conceal national defense documents loaded in boxes at his Mar-a-Lago country club, for which he is now criminally charged.
Nadler then moved on to the more explosive part of the report, where Hur — a Trump appointee — remarked that if he went to trial, Biden could put on an act as an "elderly man with a poor memory" to persuade a jury of his innocence.
"This report helps us draw between President Biden and Donald Trump," said Nadler. "Simply put, President Biden had the mental acuity to navigate this situation. Donald Trump did not.
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"Much has been made with the special counsel's gratuitous comments about President Biden's age. But let's set the context. After returning every classified document, after opening his home to federal investigators, while simultaneously managing the first hours of the crisis in Israel, President Biden volunteered to sit through a five-hour interview with the special counsel.
"I believe, as is his habit, that President Biden probably committed a verbal slip or two during the interview. And I'm not sure any of that matters because when the interview was over, Mr. Hur completely exonerated President Biden.
"And then there is Donald Trump. What kind of man bungles, not one, but dozens of opportunities to avoid criminal liability? What does that say about his mental state? Here, too, the record speaks for itself."
Nadler then played a supercut of Trump's mental slip-ups, including confusing former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley with former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, confusing Biden with former President Barack Obama, mixing up Hungary's Viktor Orbán with Turkey's Recep Erdogan, and confusing sexual assault accuser E. Jean Carroll with his ex-wife Marla Maples.
Watch the video below or at the link here.
Jerrold Nadler's opening statement in Robert Hur hearingwww.youtube.com
