WASHINGTON — In an effort to highlight President Joe Biden’s age, House Republicans will hold a public hearing next month with the Justice Department’s special counsel, who found evidence that the president disclosed classified information in his absence had used incorrectly, but who also concluded that criminal charges had been filed. not guaranteed.
The House Judiciary Committee, chaired by conservative Rep. Jim Jordan, R-Ohio, will hold a hearing with special counsel Robert Hur on March 12, according to two people familiar with the plans who spoke anonymously to discuss the yet-to-be-released plans. discuss. -announced hearing.
The White House declined to comment on the plans.
The committee has led much of the Republican Party’s investigation into Biden, including efforts to impeach him. Although that effort failed, Republicans want to hear from Hur after his report last week provided an unflattering assessment of Biden’s competency and age.
The report described the 81-year-old Democrat’s memory as “poor” and with “significant impairment.”
The president angrily walked back that story, saying his memory is fine.
The hearing is sure to turn into a political spectacle, as Republicans in the House of Representatives have consistently tried to use hearings to poke holes in Biden’s political weaknesses. Voters are already concerned about Biden’s age and competence heading into an election in which he will likely face 77-year-old Donald Trump, the former Republican president who is the clear frontrunner for his party’s nomination.
Hur, who was appointed U.S. attorney in Maryland under Trump, found some evidence indicating Biden had deliberately withheld classified information as a private citizen, but said the evidence was not strong enough for a prosecution. In ruling out a criminal case, he mentioned the possibility that Biden would present himself to a jury as a “sympathetic, well-meaning, older man with a bad memory.”
Before the release of Hur’s report, personal attorneys for the White House and Biden took issue with the special counsel’s characterization in letters to Hur and Attorney General Merrick Garland, according to two people familiar with the letters who reported on spoke to them on condition of anonymity. describe them.
“His report goes further to include allegations that the President has generally failed memory, an allegation that has no law enforcement purpose,” the lawyers wrote to Garland, who appointed Hur to the role. “A global and pejorative assessment of the president’s memory in general is inappropriate and unfounded.”
House Speaker Mike Johnson said at a news conference this week: “A man too incompetent to be held accountable for mishandling classified information is certainly unfit for the Oval Office.”
Trump is facing criminal charges for mishandling classified documents. Trump has bragged about his own memory, but has said at points in legal proceedings that he cannot remember certain events.
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AP writer Zeke Miller contributed