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Robert Hur set to testify on Joe Biden's classified docs case as private citizen, here's why Democrats are alarmed
Former Trump-appointed US Attorney Robert Hur is set to appear before the House Judiciary Committee as a private citizen
Former Trump-appointed US Attorney Robert Hur is set to appear before the House Judiciary Committee as a private citizen. Hur had notably refused to prosecute Joe Biden after authorities found classified materials in his Delaware home and a former office in Washington, DC.
According to Independent, multiple sources said that Hur is appearing before the judiciary at the request of the Republican majority led by Ohio Representative Jim Jordan. It has also been reported that he has arranged to depart from the Department of Justice on Monday, March 11. This is a day before he is scheduled to appear on Capitol Hill.
Why is Robert Hur’s departure considered a red flag?
According to a Judiciary Committee source, the special counsel’s departure from government service at particularly this time can be considered a major red flag for Democrats on the panel. “That makes it even more problematic from our perspective ... if he was still a federal employee, DOJ would have to approve his testimony and they’d be involved in his appearance tomorrow,” they said. Sources are also alarmed that Hur is turning to veteran Washington lawyer William Burck to prepare for the hearing. Burck, former federal prosecutor, worked on the team that prosecuted media personality Martha Stewart. He is well-connected in Republican political circles.
Hur and Burck have reportedly never worked together. As per a Judiciary Committee, both of them have histories as Republican partisans.
A source has said that Democrats are quite alarmed after Hur decided to seek advice from former Trump-era DOJ spokesperson Sarah Isgur to prepare for testimony. Isgur previously headed the department’s Office of Public Affairs under then-attorney general Jeff Sessions. She left the department during the last few years of the Donald Trump administration. She is now a senior editor for The Dispatch, and a paid contributor to ABC News.
Hannah Muldavin, a spokesperson for the Congressional Integrity Project, said that looking at Hur’s choice of associates, it is not hard to guess that he may be a player on Trump’s team, and is not the nonpartisan prosecutor he is expected to be. “Despite recommending no criminal charges against Joe Biden, Robert Hur decided to make unnecessary, partisan, political attacks against the President in his report. The partisan political operatives Hur has enlisted to help him prepare for his testimony only underscores how this Trump-appointed, lifelong Republican is yet another player in the MAGA effort to aide Donald Trump and hurt Joe Biden in the 2024 election,” she said.
What will Robert Hur likely say?
Another source has said that Hur will likely inflict as much political harm on Biden as possible. “Where people like Isgur and Bill Burck come in is to help him weaponise the report he wrote in order to damage the president,” they said. “Someone like Bob Muller, like probably didn't do a ton of prep, and he certainly didn't do prep with, you know, partisan operatives”.
The insider said that Hur could even “double down” on his claims about Biden being a “well-meaning, elderly man with a poor memory.” In the past, former prosecutors and legal ethics experts said that these remarks violated Justice Department guidelines on disparaging persons who were not to be charged with crimes.
During Hur’s tenure, his office prosecuted various political figures, including former Baltimore Mayor Catherine Pugh, a Democrat who pleaded guilty to conspiracy and tax evasion charges. She allegedly sold self-published children’s books to nonprofit organisations in an attempt to promote her political career.
Hur’s office also prosecuted Christopher Hasson, a Coast Guard lieutenant who allegedly stockpiled weapons and politically motivated killings inspired by a far-right mass murderer. He had a hit list naming Democrats, including Nancy Pelosi.
Hur denied to prosecute Biden saying he “willfully” retained classified material, but that there was not enough evidence to establish the president’s guilt beyond a reasonable doubt.
