Ex-Special Counsel Robert Hur agreed that he identified evidence that \u2018pride and money\u2019 were \u2018strong\u2019 motivating factors for President Biden to retain classified records, as the former vice president sought to keep materials to use for a memoir he wrote that brought him $8 million.<\/p>\n
House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jim Jordan questioned Hur during a public hearing Tuesday and asked him \u2018why did Joe Biden, in your words, willfully retain and disclose classified material?\u2019\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u2018He knew the law. Been in office like 50 years, five decades in the United States Senate; chairman of the Foreign Relations Committee; eight years as vice president; he got briefed every day as vice president; he\u2019s been in the Situation Room,\u2019 Jordan said. \u2018In fact you know he knew the rules because you said so on page 226.\u2019\u00a0<\/p>\n
Jordan referred to Hur\u2019s report, in which he stated that Biden \u2018was deeply familiar with the measures taken to safeguard classified documents.\u2019\u00a0<\/p>\n
When pressed on why Biden broke those rules, Hur replied that his \u2018conclusion as to exactly why the president did what he did is not one that we explicitly address in the report.\u2019\u00a0<\/p>\n
But Jordan pushed back.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u2018I think he did tell us,\u2019 Jordan said. \u2018I think you told us, Mr. Hur. Page 231. You said this: \u2018President Biden had strong motivations,\u2019 that\u2019s a key word. We\u2019re getting to motive now. \u2018President Biden had strong motivations to ignore the proper procedures for safeguarding the classified information in his notebooks.\u2019\u2019\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u2018Why did he have strong motivations? Because, next word, because he decided months before leaving office to write a book,\u2019 Jordan said. \u2018That was his motive. He knew the rules. He broke them because he was writing a book.\u2019\u00a0<\/p>\n
Jordan reminded that Hur explained that Biden \u2018began meeting with the ghostwriter\u2019 for that book while he was still vice president.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u2018There\u2019s the motive,\u2019 Jordan said. \u2018How much did President Biden get paid for his book.\u2019\u00a0<\/p>\n
Hur noted that the figure is stated in the report, and replied: \u2018It may be $8 million, if that\u2019s accurate.\u2019\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u2018$8 million. Joe Biden had 8 million reasons to break the rules, took classified information, and shared it with the guy who was writing the book,\u2019 Jordan said. \u2018He knew the rules, but he broke them big for $8 million in a book advance.\u2019\u00a0<\/p>\n
Jordan, quoting Hur\u2019s report, said Biden \u2018viewed his notebooks as an irreplaceable, contemporaneous record of the most important moments of his vice presidency.\u2019\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u2018He\u2019d written this all down for the book, for the $8 million,\u2019 Jordan said, further quoting Hur\u2019s report which stated: \u2018Such record would buttress his legacy as a world leader.\u2019\u00a0<\/p>\n
Jordan said that the breaking of the rules \u2018wasn\u2019t just the money.\u2019\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u2018It was also his ego,\u2019 Jordan said. \u2018Pride and money is why he knowingly violated the rules \u2014 the oldest motives in the book \u2014 pride and money.\u2019\u00a0<\/p>\n
Jordan added: \u2018You agree with that, Mr. Hur?\u00a0You wrote it in your report.\u2019\u00a0<\/p>\n
Hur replied: \u2018That language does appear in the report. And we did identify evidence supporting those assessments.\u2019\u00a0<\/p>\n
Hur\u2019s report said that Biden risked \u2018serious damage\u2019 to America\u2019s national security when he shared the classified information with the ghostwriter of his book.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Hur testified that ghostwriter, Mark Zwonitzer, had audio recordings of his conversations with Biden, in which the then-vice president read information from classified records.\u00a0<\/p>\n
With those recordings, though, Hur testified that Zwonitzer \u2018slid those files into his recycle bin on his computer\u2019 upon learning that a special counsel had been appointed to investigate the matter.<\/p>\n
Jordan asked if the ghostwriter tried to \u2018destroy the evidence.\u2019\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u2018Correct,\u2019 Hur testified.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u2018The very guy who was helping Joe Biden get the $8 million, $8 million Joe Biden used \u2014 the motive for Joe Biden to to disclose classified information to retain classified information, which he definitely knew was against the law, When you get named special counsel, what\u2019s that guy do? He destroys the evidence,\u2019 Jordan said. \u2018That\u2019s the key take away in my mind. That\u2019s the key takeaway.\u2019\u00a0<\/p>\n\n
Ex-Special Counsel Robert Hur agreed that he identified evidence that \u2018pride and money\u2019 were \u2018strong\u2019 motivating factors for President Biden to retain classified records, as the former vice president sought to keep materials to use for a memoir he wrote that brought him $8 million. House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jim Jordan questioned Hur during a <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":0,"featured_media":16917,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[25],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-16916","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-politics"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/shareperformanceinsight.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16916","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/shareperformanceinsight.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/shareperformanceinsight.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/shareperformanceinsight.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=16916"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/shareperformanceinsight.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16916\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/shareperformanceinsight.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/16917"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/shareperformanceinsight.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=16916"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/shareperformanceinsight.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=16916"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/shareperformanceinsight.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=16916"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}