The attorney general said publicizing the politically damaging document was consistent with the tradition of transparency for such reports.
Attorney General Merrick Garland dismissed as “absurd” the idea that he should have edited or withheld a special counsel report slamming President Joe Biden’s memory.
In his first remarks responding to criticism of his decision to release special counsel Robert Hur’s report last month referring to Biden as an “elderly man with a poor memory,” Garland said Thursday that publishing the full report on Biden’s handling of classified information was consistent with the tradition of transparency for such reports.
“The idea that an attorney general would edit or redact or censor the special counsel’s explanation for why the special counsel reached the decision the special counsel did — that’s absurd,” Garland told reporters.
Hur concluded no criminal charges were warranted against Biden relating to mishandling of classified material he obtained before he became president.
But many Biden supporters and some former prosecutors slammed Hur’s report for including gratuitous language about Biden that his political opponents were sure to leverage to underscore perceptions that Biden, 81, is fading mentally and physically even as he runs for reelection.
Biden responded angrily to aspects of the report, including the shot at his memory.
“I’m well meaning, and I’m an elderly man, and I know what the hell I’m doing. I’ve been president and I put this country back on its feet,” he said shortly after its release.
Biden’s lawyers complained in writing to Garland about the substance and tone of the report before it was released, but a senior career official wrote back saying the language was appropriate.
Speaking Thursday at a press conference to announce an antitrust suit against Apple, Garland addressed the controversy over Hur’s report for the first time. The attorney general noted the president’s promise to respect the independence of the Justice Department and said neither Biden nor his aides had reached out to him to say he should have altered the report or kept it from being released.
“No one from the White House has said that to me,” Garland said.
Asked whether Garland’s denial was in tension with the Biden lawyers’ letter, a Justice Department official who was granted anonymity to discuss the sensitive matter noted that the letter from the president’s attorneys never asked directly for changes to the report or that it be kept from the public.
Garland also defended the move, which produced days of negative headlines about the president’s memory, as in keeping with a long tradition of making such reports from independent prosecutors public.
“It’s consistent with the precedents, the full disclosure of all special counsel reports in the entire 25 years in which the regulation has been in effect,” the attorney general said.
Justice Department veterans largely agreed that Garland had no choice but to release the full report, particularly after the White House, too, opted against asserting executive privilege or seeking any redactions. Not only had Garland previously pledged to release the report in full, anything less would have drawn suspicion, not to mention fury from Capitol Hill.
Biden’s attorneys also sharply disputed Hur’s characterizations in letters exchanged with the special counsel’s team prior to the release of the report, calling it a bad-faith representation that they didn’t apply to other witnesses who failed to recall minute details of events that occurred years earlier.
Hur was appointed by President Donald Trump as the U.S. attorney for Maryland and worked at a law firm before being tapped by Garland to head the Biden classified-documents probe. He spent hours fielding questions from Republicans and Democrats on the House Judiciary Committee earlier this month.
Attorney General Merrick Garland dismissed as “absurd” the idea that he should have edited or withheld a special counsel report slamming President Joe Biden’s memory.
In his first remarks responding to criticism of his decision to release special counsel Robert Hur’s report last month referring to Biden as an “elderly man with a poor memory,” Garland said Thursday that publishing the full report on Biden’s handling of classified information was consistent with the tradition of transparency for such reports.
“The idea that an attorney general would edit or redact or censor the special counsel’s explanation for why the special counsel reached the decision the special counsel did — that’s absurd,” Garland told reporters.
Hur concluded no criminal charges were warranted against Biden relating to mishandling of classified material he obtained before he became president.
But many Biden supporters and some former prosecutors slammed Hur’s report for including gratuitous language about Biden that his political opponents were sure to leverage to underscore perceptions that Biden, 81, is fading mentally and physically even as he runs for reelection.
Biden responded angrily to aspects of the report, including the shot at his memory.
“I’m well meaning, and I’m an elderly man, and I know what the hell I’m doing. I’ve been president and I put this country back on its feet,” he said shortly after its release.
Biden’s lawyers complained in writing to Garland about the substance and tone of the report before it was released, but a senior career official wrote back saying the language was appropriate.
Speaking Thursday at a press conference to announce an antitrust suit against Apple, Garland addressed the controversy over Hur’s report for the first time. The attorney general noted the president’s promise to respect the independence of the Justice Department and said neither Biden nor his aides had reached out to him to say he should have altered the report or kept it from being released.
“No one from the White House has said that to me,” Garland said.
Asked whether Garland’s denial was in tension with the Biden lawyers’ letter, a Justice Department official who was granted anonymity to discuss the sensitive matter noted that the letter from the president’s attorneys never asked directly for changes to the report or that it be kept from the public.
Garland also defended the move, which produced days of negative headlines about the president’s memory, as in keeping with a long tradition of making such reports from independent prosecutors public.
“It’s consistent with the precedents, the full disclosure of all special counsel reports in the entire 25 years in which the regulation has been in effect,” the attorney general said.
Justice Department veterans largely agreed that Garland had no choice but to release the full report, particularly after the White House, too, opted against asserting executive privilege or seeking any redactions. Not only had Garland previously pledged to release the report in full, anything less would have drawn suspicion, not to mention fury from Capitol Hill.
Biden’s attorneys also sharply disputed Hur’s characterizations in letters exchanged with the special counsel’s team prior to the release of the report, calling it a bad-faith representation that they didn’t apply to other witnesses who failed to recall minute details of events that occurred years earlier.
Hur was appointed by President Donald Trump as the U.S. attorney for Maryland and worked at a law firm before being tapped by Garland to head the Biden classified-documents probe. He spent hours fielding questions from Republicans and Democrats on the House Judiciary Committee earlier this month.
