WATCH: Adam Schiff Melts Down As Robert Hur Schools Him During Hearing

During Tuesday’s House Judiciary Committee hearing on Capitol Hill, Special Counsel Robert Hur stood his ground against fierce questioning from Congressman Adam Schiff (D-CA). The hearing, which was convened to discuss Hur’s report on President Biden’s improper retention of classified records, quickly escalated into a heated exchange that captivated viewers nationwide.

Special Counsel Robert Hur, in his prepared opening testimony, made it clear that his assessment in the report regarding the relevance of the President’s memory was “necessary, accurate, and fair.” Despite not recommending criminal charges against President Biden, Hur’s comments during the hearing shed light on the complex nature of the investigation and the meticulous approach taken in preparing the report.

The tension reached a boiling point when Schiff challenged Hur’s decision not to produce a version of his report suitable for public release. “I need to address something you said in your prior question. What you are suggesting is that I needed to provide a different version of my report that would be fit for public release. That is nowhere in the rules. I was to prepare a confidential report that was comprehensive and thorough of an expert,” Hur retorted.

Schiff countered, “What is in the rules, Mr. Hur, is you don’t gratuitously do things to prejudice the subject of an investigation when you’re declining to prosecute. You don’t gratuitously add language that you know will be useful in a political campaign,” Schiff argued. He further accused Hur of making a “political choice” by including certain language in his report, suggesting it was unnecessary and potentially harmful.

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Hur remained composed and firm in his responses, denying any political motivation behind the crafting of his report. “Yes, Congressman, what you are suggesting is that I shape, sanitize, omit portions of my reasoning and explanation to the Attorney General for political reasons,” Hur insisted.

Special counsel Robert Hur also confirmed on Tuesday that Biden was previously aware he was in possession of classified documents taken from his time in the Obama administration years before he turned them over in late 2022.

A moment of truth was captured when Hur and Congressman Tom McClintock (R-CA) discussed Biden’s admission to a ghostwriter that he came upon boxes of classified materials during a previous search of his basement. The statement would directly contradict President Biden’s earlier denial that he shared unauthorized information with the ghostwriter.

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“So you have audio recording from his ghostwriter where the president acknowledges that the information he has is classified and he’s sharing it with this ghostwriter?” McClintock asked.

“We have an audio recording capturing a statement from Mr. Biden saying to his ghostwriter in February of 2017, ‘I just found all the classified stuff downstairs.'”

Democrats on the committee and in the White House have largely stuck by a narrative that President Biden complied with requests by the National Archives to return the classified materials while President Trump ignored similar requests. The contradiction of Biden’s denials about unlawfully sharing classified information now threatens to undermine his image as a law-abiding incumbent being compared to a more reckless rival.

Hur’s appearance came after tremendous pressure by Democrats to explain detailed passages within his report describing President Biden’s state of mind while possessing the documents, concluding he is a “well-meaning, elderly old man with a poor memory” who would most likely not be convicted by a jury. The production of evidence by Hur may not reignite a national discussion over President Biden’s age, a severe liability for him among general election voters.