United States: The American prosecutor who kick-started a colossal political crisis last month when she produced a highly contentious report claiming that President Joe Biden had a “poor memory” will step forward to speak publicly to a Republican congressional team for the very first time.
US Special Counsel Robert Hur will appear before a House of Representatives Judiciary Committee, which has been processing an impeachment inquiry into Biden, 81, starting at 10 a.m. ET (1400 GMT), as reported by Reuters.
State of the Union Speech
Hur is the week after Biden’s State of the Union speech, where he allegedly declared his no-mercy policy, and the beginning of his aggressive re-election campaign against his former Democratic party predecessor, Donald Trump.
Hur’s report, which upset the White House for how it portrayed Biden, stated that he would not press charges against the vice president for keeping confidential materials after he left office in 2017.
Biden, the first ever to hold the office of the US president at an age above 70, was infuriated by this accusation and claimed his memory was sharp, addressing it in public remarks, while Vice President Kamala Harris labeled it as politically motivated.
Trump, 77, is going through several criminal trials, including one against him due to the unlawful possession of classified information.
Accusations of Double Standard
The defenders of President Trump have accused the Justice Department of a double standard, but the prosecutors insist that Trump forced their investigation and did not cooperate, which are the main obstacles in looking for documents. Hur emphasized that ‘Biden’ was always collaborating with the investigation whenever needed.
“We have also considered that, at trial, Mr. Biden would likely present himself to a jury, as he did during our interview of him, as a sympathetic, well-meaning, elderly man with a poor memory,” the report said.
Hur became a US attorney initially appointed by President Trump and only later appointed as the special counsel by Attorney General Merrick Garland, who made the appointment after Biden’s records turned up.
House Republicans’ Demands
House Republicans have asked for all the documents that are the basis for the probe, although they claim that the Justice Department has yet to initiate it.
House Republicans claim that Biden has bypassed the rules and that he and his family improperly profited from his decisions as vice president from 2009 to 2017, though they have not produced evidence yet demonstrating that Biden has enriched himself financially. The White House denies involvement.
The Republican majority in the House has asked Biden Jr. to appear in an open hearing that will take place on the 20th of March, even though it is not yet clear whether the younger Biden will attend the session.