Connect with us

News

‘I Don’t Give a Darn’: Experts Blast ‘Political Swipe’ in Special Counsel’s Biden Report

Published

on

Legal experts are blasting the “political” remarks included in Special Counsel Robert Hur’s final report that concludes his investigation into President Joe Biden’s handling of about 20 classified documents from his time as Vice President. As expected, the Special Counsel found no cause to file charges.

Hur was appointed to be Special Counsel by Attorney General Merrick Garland, after being appointed by then-President Donald Trump as a U.S. Attorney.

Included in the report was personal commentary which some experts decried as political, and others said had no place being injected into Hur’s findings.

As The Washington Post described it, Hur’s “report said a jury would find Biden to be a sympathetic figure and ‘a well-meaning, elderly man with a poor memory.’ Prosecutors also suggested it might not have struck Biden as noteworthy that he was in possession of classified documents so soon after his term as vice president had ended.”

“Hur’s report said it would be ‘difficult to convince a jury that they should convict him — by then a former president well into his eighties — of a serious felony that requires a mental state of willfulness.'”

Fox News was quick to jump on those remarks and turn them into a meme.

Professor of law Andrew Weissmann, a frequent MSNBC legal analyst who spent decades at DOJ, including working for Special Counsel Robert Mueller slammed Hur: “Of course, no crime was committed by Biden, but as anticipated, Hur takes the opportunity to make a gratuitous political swipe at Biden. Not Hur’s role; and frankly I don’t give a darn what his opinion is.”

Noted national security attorney Bradley Moss remarked, “If I were an elected official right now I might consider subpoenaing Robert Hur to testify about this report. Every time he ever says ‘I do not recall’ I would ask him if it is safe to say he is a well meaning but elderly old man with a poor memory.”

READ MORE: Trump Declares ‘Every One’ of the Court Cases Against Him Are ‘Illegal’ After SCOTUS Hearing

“What Robert Hur did in his report with these irrelevant and extraneous remarks is the same thing DOJ used as the basis to fire James Comey in 2017. Seven years later, they did it again. Seriously. Unreal,” Moss continued, and added: “Trump can’t remember who the Speaker of the House was three years ago on J6, and thought his wife was Carroll in a photo.”

Another national security attorney, Mark Zaid, had criticism for both Hur and Biden.

“Not impressed w/Special Counsel Report. So much unnecessary commentary that will be politically seized upon. Also very unimpressed w/Biden’s mishandling of #classifiedinformation. Sloppy. Correct final decision though as matter of practice, policy & law,” he wrote.

“Facts are not optically favorable for Biden but still completely distinct from Trump,” Zaid went on to say. “I see Biden’s type of mishandling classified info all the time from former senior Govt officials – GOP & DEM – especially writing memoirs. All Trump had to do was return docs timely. Period.”

The White House, which had the opportunity to request redactions, chose not to.

But President Biden’s attorneys sent Hur a letter, The Guardian reports, stating:

“We do not believe that the report’s treatment of President Biden’s memory is accurate or appropriate. The report uses highly prejudicial language to describe a commonplace occurrence among witnesses: a lack of recall of years-old events. Such comments have no place in a Department of Justice report, particularly one that in the first paragraph announces that no criminal charges are ‘warranted’ and that ‘the evidence does not establish Mr. Biden’s guilt.’”

“Not only do you treat the President differently from other witnesses when discussing his limited recall of certain years-ago events, but you also do so on occasions in prejudicial and inflammatory terms. You refer to President Biden’s memory on at least nine occasions – a number that is itself gratuitous.”

READ MORE: Tuberville: Democrats Want Women to Be ‘Extinct’

 

Image by Gage Skidmore via Flickr and a CC license

There's a reason 10,000 people subscribe to NCRM. You can get the news before it breaks just by subscribing, plus you can learn something new every day.
Continue Reading
Click to comment
 
 

Enjoy this piece?

… then let us make a small request. The New Civil Rights Movement depends on readers like you to meet our ongoing expenses and continue producing quality progressive journalism. Three Silicon Valley giants consume 70 percent of all online advertising dollars, so we need your help to continue doing what we do.

NCRM is independent. You won’t find mainstream media bias here. From unflinching coverage of religious extremism, to spotlighting efforts to roll back our rights, NCRM continues to speak truth to power. America needs independent voices like NCRM to be sure no one is forgotten.

Every reader contribution, whatever the amount, makes a tremendous difference. Help ensure NCRM remains independent long into the future. Support progressive journalism with a one-time contribution to NCRM, or click here to become a subscriber. Thank you. Click here to donate by check.

News

Rogan on Epstein Files: ‘Looks Terrible’ for Trump

Published

on

Prominent podcaster Joe Rogan warned that the handling of the Epstein files “looks terrible” for President Donald Trump and his administration.

“During Tuesday and Thursday’s episodes, Rogan criticized redactions the Department of Justice made from the files,” The Hill reported.

“Who knows what f — — happens with all this Epstein files s — —,” he said, according to video of his streaming show. “It just keeps getting crazier and crazier and crazier and deeper and deeper.”

“Why would your name be redacted if you’re not a victim?” Rogan also asked. “Like, this is what’s crazy about all this. Like, how come you redact some people and you don’t redact other people?”

READ MORE: Far Right Extremist Leader Puts Trump on Notice Over Epstein Files

“Like, what is this?” the podcaster continued. “This is not good. None of this is good for this administration. It looks f — — terrible. It looks terrible. It looks terrible for Trump when he was saying that none of this was real. This is all a hoax. This is not a hoax. Like, did you not know?”

“Maybe he didn’t know if you want to be charitable? But this is definitely not a hoax. And if you’ve got redacted people’s names, and these people aren’t victims, you’re not protecting the victim. So what are you doing?”

“And how come all this s — — is not released?” Rogan asked.

 

READ MORE: ‘No Going Back’: Report Warns Post-MAGA America Will Never Be the Same

 

Continue Reading

News

Far Right Extremist Leader Puts Trump on Notice Over Epstein Files

Published

on

Far-right extremist livestreamer Nick Fuentes — who leads a “Groyper” following of mostly young men and brands himself “America First” — is putting President Donald Trump on notice ahead of the 2026 midterm elections.

“I won’t even consider voting in the midterms unless the Epstein Files are fully unredacted, mass deportations resume, and we don’t go to war with Iran,” wrote Fuentes, who has 1.2 million followers on the X social media platform.

Some of Trump’s MAGA allies were furious this week as Attorney General Pam Bondi deflected numerous questions in a congressional hearing on that very topic.

Even before Bondi’s widely-criticized performance, Fuentes had called for her impeachment.

READ MORE: Trump’s Pardon ‘Blizzard’ Grows With Clemency for Five Former NFL Players

“Pam Bondi needs to be impeached,” he said on his February 9 Rumble show, “America First,” as The Daily Beast reported. “You lied about the existence of the files. You lied about unindicted collaborators and accomplices.”

Fuentes has been described by the Southern Poverty Law Center as a “white nationalist,” an “admirer of fascists,” and someone who “frequently relies on antisemitic tropes.”

According to the Anti-Defamation League, “Fuentes has used his platforms to make numerous antisemitic, racist, homophobic and misogynistic comments,” and spreads “white supremacist propaganda.”

President Trump “has not condemned Fuentes,” and Vice President JD Vance “has only criticized him for attacking his wife,” The Week reported last month. “But Vance also appears keen to avoid alienating young Fuentes supporters, who could help him secure the GOP presidential nomination in 2028.”

READ MORE: ‘No Going Back’: Report Warns Post-MAGA America Will Never Be the Same

 

Image via Reuters 

 

 

Continue Reading

News

Trump’s Pardon ‘Blizzard’ Grows With Clemency for Five Former NFL Players

Published

on

President Donald Trump issued another batch of pardons on Thursday, granting clemency to five former NFL players — the latest in what the Cato Institute has labeled a “blizzard” of pardons.

Trump’s pardon czar Alice Marie Johnson praised the move, which covers cases including those involving drug-related offenses and perjury convictions, according to The Guardian,

“Today, the President granted pardons to five former NFL players—Joe Klecko, Nate Newton, Jamal Lewis, Travis Henry, and the late great Dr. Billy Cannon,” wrote Johnson. “As football reminds us, excellence is built on grit, grace, and the courage to rise again. So is our nation.”

Johnson went on to applaud the president “for his continued commitment to second chances.”

“Mercy changes lives,” she added.

READ MORE: ‘No Going Back’: Report Warns Post-MAGA America Will Never Be the Same

The Cato Institute on Wednesday had said the scope and magnitude of Trump’s “blizzard” of pardons are “unprecedented.”

Before this latest round of pardons, Trump had issued 166 pardons — plus the mass pardons of about 1,500 people convicted on charges in connection with January 6 — since taking office just over one year ago. By comparison, President Joe Biden in four years issued 80 pardons.

“In other words,” Cato’s Dan Greenberg wrote, “even putting aside the rioters’ collective pardon, Trump is now issuing pardons at eight times the rate Biden did.”

READ MORE: ‘Political Stunt’: Trump Admin Rages After NYC Re-Raises Pride Flag at Stonewall

Greenberg put Trump’s pardons into several categories.

He noted that Biden’s pardons eliminated about $680,000 in penalties owed to victims or the federal government, whereas Trump’s pardons have wiped away about $1.5 billion.

Greenberg also said that “Trump has normalized the pardoning of disgraced politicians, such as former Honduran president Juan Orlando Hernandez (who orchestrated a spree of state-sponsored drug trafficking leading to a 45-year prison term),” and others, such as Nevada legislator Michele Fiore, Virginia sheriff Scott Jenkins, Tennessee House Speaker Glen Casada, and Arkansas legislator Jeremy Hutchinson.

Other concerns Greenberg noted are that aspects of some of Trump’s pardons “set off alarm bells for self-corruption—either of the president or of his associates.”

Finally, “Trump has increasingly focused on providing pardons to his campaign supporters who stretched or broke the law, such as John Eastman, Rudy Giuliani, and Jenna Ellis.”

READ MORE: ‘Politically Toxic’: Voters Say Biden Was Better Than Trump

 

Image via Reuters 

Continue Reading

Trending

Copyright © 2020 AlterNet Media.