Speaker Mike Johnson, Majority Chief Steve Scalise (R-La.), GOP Whip Tom Emmer (R-Minn.) and Convention Chair Elise Stefanik (R-N.Y.), in a joint assertion, mentioned that the remarks on Biden’s reminiscence have been among the many report’s “most annoying elements.”
“A person too incapable of being held accountable for mishandling categorized data is definitely unfit for the Oval Workplace,” they added.
Rep. Ralph Norman (R-S.C.) added that the discovering is “not precisely a glowing description” of Biden, whereas the Nationwide Republican Senatorial Committee, the Senate GOP’s marketing campaign arm, rapidly chimed in on X that “Joe Biden is unfit to be president.”
“Is that this a joke?” posted Sen. Thom Tillis (R-N.C.), a member of the Judiciary Committee.
The DOJ report follows Home Republicans’ push to show Biden’s dealing with of categorized paperwork right into a most important focus of their sweeping impeachment inquiry into the president. Home Republicans sought particulars from Legal professional Common Merrick Garland final yr concerning the scope of Hur’s probe.
Richard Sauber, a particular counsel to the president, and Bob Bauer, Biden’s private counsel, despatched a joint letter to Hur on Monday asking that he revise his descriptions on Biden’s reminiscence “in order that they’re acknowledged in a fashion that’s inside the bounds of your experience and remit.”
“We don’t imagine that the report’s remedy of President Biden’s reminiscence is correct or acceptable. The report makes use of extremely prejudicial language to explain a commonplace prevalence amongst witnesses: a scarcity of recall of years-old occasions. Such feedback don’t have any place in a Division of Justice report,” they added.
Whereas Republicans centered most of their instant response on the report’s descriptions of Biden’s reminiscence, Hur’s staff additionally revived a perennial speaking level for Republicans: that the DOJ has turn into a “two-tier justice system,” holding Democratic allies to a decrease customary than GOP ones. On the coronary heart of this declare: the DOJ’s expenses filed in opposition to former President Donald Trump for mishandling categorized paperwork after leaving workplace. Hur’s report attracts a distinction between the 2 circumstances, noting that Trump allegedly refused to return categorized paperwork for months whereas Biden turned in categorized paperwork and cooperated with the investigation.
“President Biden mishandled categorized paperwork for years, storing them within the storage of his Delaware dwelling, and but, no expenses are anticipated,” mentioned Sen. Marsha Blackburn (R-Tenn.). “Tennesseans and People are fed up with the 2 tiers of justice that has turn into the established order of this administration.”
Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.), the highest Republican on the Senate Judiciary Committee, informed reporters that: “A whole lot of Republicans will suppose there’s a double customary.”
“The American individuals will decide on whether or not he’s as much as one other time period based mostly on issues like this,” he added.
