Documents with classified markings found at Penn Biden Center, DOJ to review

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⚡ Scoop: Special counsel's private talks

Special counsel Robert Hur is gaming out testimony — and enlisting help from a Trump Justice Department official — in preparation for a potential congressional hearing early next month, Axios' Alex Thompson scoops.

• Why it matters: House Republicans are salivating at the chance to ask Hur about President Biden's fitness for office. Such a hearing would give a searing spotlight to one of Biden's big vulnerabilities.

Biden and his White House and personal lawyers have been bashing Hur over the report, which was released a week ago today.

• The report cleared Biden of criminal wrongdoing over his handling of classified document. But it painted the president, 81, as having "diminished faculties" and a "poor memory."

Hur is in final talks to publicly testify before Congress in early March, a GOP aide tells Axios. Hur would likely appear in front of the House Judiciary Committee.

• The special counsel has been in discussions with Sarah Isgur — a senior counselor to Trump's deputy attorney general during the Mueller investigation — to help him navigate the situation.

?️ What to watch: The disputes over the report's contents will put further pressure on the White House to authorize the release of the transcript of Hur's interview with Biden.

• The five-hour interview took place over Oct. 8 and 9, just after the Israel-Hamas war began.

Any release would undergo a review for classified material.

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Biden lawyers vs. Biden DOJ

President Biden's lawyers urged Attorney General Merrick Garland in last-minute appeals to note their concerns about special counsel Robert Hur's report on the president, Axios' Alex Thompson reports.

• "Mr. Hur's criticism of President Biden mirrors one of the most widely recognized examples in recent history of inappropriate prosecutor criticism of uncharged conduct," the lawyers wrote.

Why it matters: The newly released letters show how worried Biden's team was about Hur's depiction of the 81-year-old president as a man with a "poor memory."

• Hur is expected to testify before the House Judiciary Committee on March 12.

Zoom in: Biden's lawyers accused Hur of breaking Justice Department norms by going public with his findings instead of writing a confidential report, according to letters made public today by Politico, the Washington Post and the New York Times.

• A Feb. 7 letter from Biden's lawyers argued that Hur's "criticism of President Biden mirrors one of the most widely recognized examples in recent history of inappropriate prosecutor criticism of uncharged conduct."
• During the 2016 campaign, FBI Director James B. Comey held a press conference to discuss his findings from an investigation into Hillary Clinton's private email server, then said he had no reason to recommend charges.

The other side: "The identified language ... is not offered to criticize or demean the President," associate deputy attorney general Bradley Weinsheimer replied to Biden's lawyers the next day.

• "Rather, it is offered to explain Special Counsel Hur's conclusions about the President's state of mind in possessing and retaining classified information."

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Biden's ghostwriter deleted recordings, special counsel's transcript confirms

The ghostwriter of President Biden's memoir told federal investigators he deleted many recordings of his conversations with Biden after a special counsel was appointed to investigate the president, according to a partial transcript of the interview obtained by Axios.

https://www.axios.com/2024/06/14/biden-ghostwriter-deleted-recordings-special-counsel-documents?