Month: March 2024

Former special counsel Robert Hur, who led the yearlong probe into President Joe Biden’s handling of classified documents, testified Tuesday before the House Judiciary Committee. Lawmakers in both parties have heavily criticized Hur’s report that ultimately vindicated the president, but included some highly critical conclusions. Hur was previously nominated by then-President Donald Trump as U.S. attorney for the District of Maryland, and was appointed special counsel in the case by Attorney General Merrick Garland. His employment with the Justice Department has ended since the report has been filed.

Hur fielded questions from both Democrats and Republicans at the hearing who took issue with the report, accusing him of acting in a partisan manner.  Republicans argued the decision not to recommend charges against Mr. Biden was evidence of a two-tiered justice system, while Democrats countered that Republicans ignored the severity of the allegations against Trump and accused Hur of including gratuitous criticism of the president in his report.

In his 388-page report published last month, Hur said that he found no criminal charges were warranted in the Biden probe, but noted the inquiry uncovered evidence “that President Biden willfully retained and disclosed classified materials after his vice presidency.” Hur ultimately concluded that the evidence did not establish the facts beyond a reasonable doubt. The report also included damaging assertions about the 81-year-old president’s memory during the five-hour conversation between the two. The White House has vehemently refuted accusations that Biden has memory issues.

Hur defended the investigation and report and highlighted the probe’s finding that Mr. Biden “willfully retained” classified materials, while noting that the investigation did not find evidence that “rose to the level of proof beyond a reasonable doubt.” The former special counsel said that he needed to include characterizations of the president’s memory in order to explain why he did not bring charges against Mr. Biden: “I understood that my explanation about this case had to include rigorous, detailed and thorough analysis,” Hur said in his opening remarks. “In other words, I needed to show my work, just as I would expect any prosecutor to show his or her work in explaining the decision to prosecute or not.” Hur said his assessment of how relevant Mr. Biden’s memory was in the report was “necessary and accurate and fair .. I did not sanitize my explanation, nor did I disparage the president unfairly. I explained to the attorney general my decision, and the reasons for it. That’s what I was required to do.”

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Rep. Ken Buck, R-Colo.,  announced Tuesday he will be leaving Congress at the end of next week. Buck had previously announced he would not be seeking reelection.

Buck said in a statement: “Today I am announcing that I will depart Congress at the end of next week. I look forward to staying involved in our political process, as well as spending more time in Colorado and with my family … It has been an honor to serve the people of Colorado’s 4th District in Congress for the past 9 years. I want to thank them for their support and encouragement through the years.”

Buck frequently defied his own party, and his departure will further narrow the House Republicans majority to a margin of 218-213. Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., will continue to have two votes to spare before needing Democrats to govern, but unexpected absences by his party could make his his role challenging.

Fellow GOP colleagues seemed shocked by Buck’s announcement: Speaker Johnson said to reporters after Buck’s statement was revealed: “I was surprised by Ken’s announcement. I’m looking forward to talking with him about that,” while Rep. Pat Fallon, R-Texas said of the news: “very surprising, very disturbing, very alarming, very concerning.”

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Former president Donald Trump’s attorneys are seeking to delay his March 25 hush money trial until the Supreme Court rules on the presidential immunity claims he raised in another of his criminal cases. Trump’s lawyers filed a 26-page motion on Monday requesting that asked Manhattan Judge Juan Manuel Merchan to adjourn the New York criminal trial indefinitely until Trump’s immunity claim in his Washington, D.C., election interference case is resolved. Merchan did not immediately rule, and the Manhattan district attorney’s office declined to comment. Prosecutors are expected to respond to Trump’s delay request in court papers later this week.

Trump contends he is immune from prosecution for conduct alleged to involve official acts during his tenure in office, with his attorneys arguing that some of the evidence and alleged acts in the hush-money case overlap with his time in the White House and constitute official acts. Trump first raised the immunity issue in his Washington D.C. criminal case, which involves allegations that he worked to overturn the results of the 2020 election in the run-up to the violent riot by his supporters at the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021.

The Supreme Court is scheduled to hear arguments April 25, a month after the scheduled start of jury selection in Trump’s hush money case. It is the first of his four criminal cases slated to go to trial as he closes in on the Republican presidential nomination in his quest to retake the White House.

Trump pleaded not guilty last year to 34 felony counts of falsifying business records and has denied having a sexual encounter with Daniels, stating that the payments to Cohen were legitimate legal expenses and not part of any cover-up.

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On Monday, New Jersey Sen. Bob Menendez and his wife, Nadine again pleaded not guilty to the latest criminal charges against them in their alleged corruption and bribery case. Sen. Menendez told the judge at his arraignment in downtown Manhattan: “Once again, not guilty, your honor,” with the Senator and his wife leaving the courthouse without speaking to reporters or answering any questions.

A copy of the superseding indictment shows that a federal grand jury in New York charged Menendez and his wife last week with two new counts of obstruction of justice, and conspiracy to obstruct justice, bringing the total amount of charges faced by New Jersey’s senior senator to 18.  The FBI alleges that the couple lied about money they received for a new Mercedes convertible and home mortgage payments, with prosecutors said that from June 2022 into 2023, Menendez and his wife Nadine wrote checks that stated they were repaying a loan to businessman Jose Uribe, when in fact no such loan existed. Those checks were presented to the United States Attorney’s Office in an attempt to obstruct justice; Uribe has pleaded guilty in the so-called gold bar corruption case, saying he paid bribes to the senator. He is now cooperating with prosecutors. The new charges allege that the couple was trying to obstruct justice in the weeks before they were charged last September with a variety of crimes.

In a statement, Menendez, 70, maintained his innocence and called last Tuesday’s superseding indictment “a flagrant abuse of power. The government has long known that I learned of and helped repay loans — not bribes — that had been provided to my wife … The government has now falsely alleged a cover-up and obstruction. The latest charge reveals far more about the government than it says about me. It says that the prosecutors are afraid of the facts, scared to subject their charges to the fair-minded scrutiny of a jury, and unconstrained by any sense of justice or fair play. It says, once and for all, that they will stop at nothing in their zeal to get me. These prosecutors are trying to get me to give in simply by making wild allegations again and again, without actually proving anything.”

After his arrest last fall, Menendez was forced to relinquish his chairmanship of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee but said he would not resign from Congress. Menendez has held public office continuously since 1986, when he was elected mayor of Union City, New Jersey.  Former Gov. Jon Corzine appointed Menendez to the Senate seat he vacated in 2006 when he became governor.

The senator and his wife have pleaded not guilty to all 18 counts; a May trial has been scheduled.

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