Current:Home > MyHarris slams ‘politically motivated’ report as Biden to name task force to protect classified docs-LoTradeCoin
Harris slams ‘politically motivated’ report as Biden to name task force to protect classified docs
View Date:2025-01-13 06:53:49
WASHINGTON (AP) — Vice President Kamala Harris on Friday slammed the report by a Justice Department special counsel into Joe Biden’s mishandling of classified documents that raised questions about the president’s memory, calling it “politically motivated” and “gratuitous,” as the White House said the president would take steps to safeguard classified materials during presidential transitions.
The report from Robert Hur, the former Maryland U.S. Attorney selected by Attorney General Merrick Garland to investigate Biden found evidence that Biden willfully held onto and shared with a ghostwriter highly classified information, but laid out why he did not believe the evidence met the standard for criminal charges, including a high probability that the Justice Department would not be able to prove Biden’s intent beyond a reasonable doubt.
The White House has said Biden erred in having the documents in his home and Ian Sams, a spokesperson for the White House counsel’s office, said Biden would soon name a task force “to ensure that there are better processes in place” to protect classified materials when administrations change.
The report described the 81-year-old Democrat’s memory as “hazy,” “fuzzy,” “faulty,” “poor” and having “significant limitations.” It noted that Biden could not recall defining milestones in his own life such as when his son Beau died or when he served as vice president.
Asked whether the White House would release a copy of the transcript of Biden’s interview with Hur that could dispute Hur’s characterizations, Sams said parts of it were classified, but that if parts of it could be declassified, “we’ll take a look at that and make a determination.”
Taking a question from a reporter at the conclusion of a gun violence prevention event at the White House, Harris said that as a former prosecutor, she considered Hur’s comments “gratuitous, inaccurate, and inappropriate.”
She noted that Biden’s two-day sit-down with Hur occurred just after the Oct. 7 attack by Hamas on Israel, where more than 1,200 people were killed and about 250 were taken hostage — including many Americans.
“It was an intense moment for the commander in chief of the United States of America,” Harris said, saying she spent countless hours with Biden and other officials in the days that followed and he was “on top of it all.”
She added that “the way that the president’s demeanor in that report was characterized could not be more wrong on the facts and clearly politically motivated, gratuitous.”
Harris concluded saying a special counsel should have a “higher level of integrity than what we saw.”
Her comments came a day after Biden insisted that his “memory is fine.” and grew visibly angry at the White House, as he denied forgetting when his son died. Beau Biden died of brain cancer in 2015 at the age of 46.
Sams suggested that the political environment led Hur, who was appointed as U.S. attorney by former President Donald Trump, to include the comments. “There’s an environment that we are in, that generates a ton of pressure, because you have congressional Republicans, other Republicans, attacking prosecutors that they don’t like,” he said.
veryGood! (87155)
Related
- Denver district attorney is investigating the leak of voting passwords in Colorado
- Many Verizon customers across the US hit by service outage
- Cardi B Reveals How She Found Out She Was Pregnant With Baby No. 3
- Biltmore Estate: What we know in the aftermath of Helene devastation in Asheville
- Police capture Tennessee murder suspect accused of faking his own death on scenic highway
- Conyers fire: Shelter-in-place still in effect after chemical fire at pool cleaning plant
- Fantasy football buy low, sell high: 10 trade targets for Week 5
- Appeal delays $600 million class action settlement payments in fiery Ohio derailment
- Review: 'Emilia Pérez' is the most wildly original film you'll see in 2024
- ‘SNL’ 50th season premiere gets more than 5M viewers, its best opener since 2020
Ranking
- Man Found Dead in Tanning Bed at Planet Fitness Gym After 3 Days
- Exclusive: Disney Store's Holiday Shop Is Here With Magical Gifts for Every Fan, From Pixar to Marvel
- Many small businesses teeter as costs stay high while sales drop
- A port strike could cost the economy $5 billion per day, here's what it could mean for you
- US overdose deaths are down, giving experts hope for an enduring decline
- US port strike by 45,000 dockworkers is all but certain to begin at midnight
- Measure to expand medical marijuana in Arkansas won’t qualify for the ballot
- Helene death toll climbs to 90 | The Excerpt
Recommendation
-
Fate of Netflix Series America’s Sweethearts: Dallas Cowboys Cheerleaders Revealed
-
A sheriff is being retried on an assault charge for kicking a shackled detainee twice in the groin
-
Benny Blanco Has the Best Reaction to Selena Gomez’s Sexy Shoutout
-
Sing Sing Actor JJ Velazquez Exonerated of Murder Conviction After Serving Nearly 24 Years in Prison
-
Gun groups sue to overturn Maine’s new three-day waiting period to buy firearms
-
Seminole Hard Rock Tampa evacuated twice after suspicious devices found at the casino
-
Why break should be 'opportunity week' for Jim Harbaugh's Chargers to improve passing game
-
Trump slams US response to Helene, even as supporters urge cutbacks to federal disaster agencies