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Special counsel Robert Hur could testify in coming weeks on Biden documents probe as talks with House continue
Washington — The Justice Department and House leaders are negotiating a time for special counsel Robert Hur to testify publicly before Congress about the federal probe into President Biden’s handling of classified records, according to three people familiar with the discussions.
Officials are currently targeting late February or early March for Hur’s testimony before the House Judiciary Committee, the people said, but the timing remains in flux as negotiations continue. If he does testify, it would be Hur’s first public comments on the probe.
There is recent precedent for a special counsel appearing before lawmakers after completing an investigation. Robert Mueller, who oversaw a two-year probe of potential ties between the 2016 Trump campaign and Russia, testified for more than six hours before two committees after releasing his report in 2019.
Hur’s report on the Biden documents investigation
Last week, Hur released his final report about his year-long investigation into the discovery of documents with classified markings found in Mr. Biden’s personal office and residence. Hur’s team concluded that neither Mr. Biden nor any of his aides would face criminal charges over the documents, which dated from Mr. Biden’s time as vice president.
Hur’s report said the evidence did not prove beyond a reasonable doubt that Mr. Biden intentionally and illegally held onto the sensitive government records. The Justice Department has a policy against bringing criminal charges against sitting presidents, but Hur and his team said they would have reached the same conclusion if the policy didn’t exist.
Justice Department
The report did say the president’s handling of the documents could have presented “serious risks to national security,” and described instances in which pieces of classified information were left in unsecured locations.
The special counsel’s report — the product of hundreds of interviews since Attorney General Merrick Garland appointed Hur last year — was critical of Mr. Biden’s conduct and highlighted lapses in the president’s memory. Prosecutors said those memory issues would have made it hard for them to prove Mr. Biden’s guilt at trial.
The White House and the president’s allies, including the vice president, have pushed back on Hur’s characterizations of Mr. Biden’s memory. The president himself disputed the references to his memory in the report and emphasized the ultimate decision not to pursue charges.
Hur, a former U.S. attorney and top Justice Department official under former President Donald Trump, noted that Mr. Biden’s conduct during the investigation was a factor in the decision not to bring charges.
“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,” Hur wrote.
In a letter on Monday, House Republicans asked the Justice Department to hand over transcripts and recordings of two days of interviews Hur’s team conducted with Mr. Biden last October. The Justice Department confirmed receipt of the letter but declined to comment further.
Mr. Biden’s personal attorney, Bob Bauer, told “Face the Nation” on Sunday that there is a “process underway” for the potential release of the transcript.
The transcript would likely need to be reviewed for classified information and any claims of executive privilege would have to be settled before it could be released.
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These days, you’ll find Peggy Noonan in many places: in front of commencement crowds, at political round tables, and for the past quarter-century, in the opinion section of the Wall Street Journal. But when she was just starting out in Washington, D.C., you could find Noonan at the Off the Record Bar, near her job at the White House. “I would sit over there by myself, I would order a beer or a glass of wine, and I’d just quietly sit and read,” she said.
In 1984, Noonan joined President Ronald Reagan’s staff, after working at CBS in New York. At first, she felt like an outsider in the buttoned-up West Wing, but soon became an acclaimed speechwriter. Early on, she wrote Reagan’s moving speech for D-Day’s 40th anniversary.
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Then, when the Challenger shuttle tragically exploded, Noonan was given a tough assignment: write Reagan’s address to a distraught nation. “I had a feeling of, that didn’t work, nothing worked, because nothing was worthy of that moment; nothing was worthy of that day,” she said. “But then Frank Sinatra called – he called that night to the White House to say, ‘Mr. President, you just said what needed to be said.’ And Frank didn’t call after every speech!”
By the late eighties, Noonan had cemented a reputation as a wordsmith, and Reagan turned to her for his farewell address:
“We made the city stronger, we made the city freer. All in all, not bad, not bad at all.”
George H.W. Bush turned to Noonan, too, as he rallied Republicans on his way to the White House. “You know, part of life is luck,” she said. “It was not lucky to follow dazzling Ronald Reagan and be plainer, seeming sturdy George H.W. Bush. But I believe history was not – certainly in his time – sufficiently fair to him.”
That opinion is one of many found in the pages of her new book, “A Certain Idea of America,” a collection of her recent work (to be published Tuesday by Portfolio).
Portfolio
Asked what her idea of America is today, Noonan replied, “Big, raucous, troubled, frayed.”
Noonan’s columns often delve into questions of character and leadership. “What I do not perceive now is many politicians who are actually saying, Guys, this is not good for the country. We’ve been given this beautiful thing called America. Shine it up! Keep it going!”
Costa said, “You have a lot of fun in this book, doing what you call taking the stick to certain people from time to time.”
“I don’t mind the stick at all,” said Noonan. “When I see something that I think is just awful, I love to get mad at it. I got mad at John Fetterman.”
“You don’t like that he’s wearing shorts?”
“It’s okay with me that he wears shorts,” she replied, “but he is not allowed to change the rules of the U.S. Senate to accommodate him in his little shorts and hoodie because he enjoys dressing like a child.”
Noonan, now 74, grew up in the Democratic strongholds of New York and New Jersey. “And I was very happy with that, because Democrats were cooler than Republicans,” she said. “Democrats were little Bobby Kennedy, and Republicans were, like, Dick Thornburgh!”
But in Reagan, she saw something fresh. “You looked at him, you saw his confidence, and it made you feel optimistic,” she said.
The Gipper, of course, no longer dominates the Republican Party, and President-elect Trump’s victory could transform the GOP even more in the coming years. “In terms of policy, the Republican Party has changed by becoming, not a standard, usual conservative party, but a populist party,” Noonan said. “Its issues have changed very much. But also, the edge of anger and resentment and, I’m afraid, a little paranoia that is in the Republican Party now would be something that Reagan did not recognize.”
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At the Off the Record Bar, the faces on the wall – caricatures of politicians of the past – and at the tables still catch her eye. For Noonan, it’s all part of the story – America’s, and her own.
Costa said, “In a way, you’re still the writer in the corner watching everybody at the bar in Washington.”
“Yeah, I like to watch them, she said. “They’re human, and you bring a little warmth to it, a little humor, and always bring your stick and smack them when you need to! It’s kind of nice.”
READ AN EXCERPT: “A Certain Idea of America” by Peggy Noonan
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Story produced by David Rothman. Editor: Joseph Frandino.
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