OPINION: This article may contain commentary which reflects the author's opinion.
Though Special Counsel Robert Hur decided not to file any charges against President Joe Biden for his mishandling and illegally possessing classified documents, the White House now has fresh 2024 campaign issues that it must address.
Namely, opponents of Hur’s decision will note again that, as Biden’s administration continues its prosecutions of his likely opponent, former President Donald Trump, as well as former Trump associates and officials, there appears to be a two-tiered system of justice — one for opponents and one for friends of the regime.
Also, Hur’s documentation of Biden’s substantial loss of mental capacity will also renew arguments among what is now a large majority of Americans — based on the most recent surveys — that they do not believe the president can serve another four-year term, much less serve out his current term.
Just the news notes:
Hur’s 388-page report released Thursday may have spared Biden the spectacle of a criminal prosecution similar to that his Justice Department imposed on Donald Trump, but it delivered a devastating blow to the 46th president’s re-election hopes by going out of its way to explain criminal charges weren’t levied in part because jurors might see Biden as a dottering, forgetful old man incapable of criminal intent.
“Mr. Biden will likely present himself to the jury, as he did during his interview with our office, as a sympathetic, well-meaning, elderly man with a poor memory,” Hur wrote in explaining his rationale for refusing prosecution. “…It would be difficult to convince a jury they should convict him – by then a former president who will be at least well into his eighties – of a serious felony that requires a mental state of willfulness.”
“Our investigation uncovered evidence that President Biden willfully retained and disclosed classified materials after his vice presidency when he was a private citizen,” the report concluded.
Hur added for good measure he believed Biden suffered from “diminished faculties in advancing age.”
Critics pounced immediately.
Biden’s only remaining Democrat challenger for the 2024 presidential nomination, Rep. Dean Phillips of Minnesota, said Hur’s report exposed a “sad” reality that “the President cannot continue to serve as our Commander-in-Chief beyond his term.”
Republicans were even more direct in their approach. Rep. Claudia Tenney, R-N.Y., penned a letter Thursday night urging Attorney General Merrick Garland to contemplate instigating proceedings within the Cabinet to oust Biden as incapacitated under the 25th Amendment.
Other Republicans made it very clear that they plan to use the details of Hur’s findings as a political weapon throughout the 2024 campaign cycle.
“Every time he (Biden) talks, he’s confused,” Rep. Rich McCormick, R-Ga., a Marine and former emergency room doctor, told Just the News. “If he’s not taken by the arm and shown where to go, he doesn’t know where to walk. He could be at the White House and try to go through the wrong entrance. He could be on stage and not know which direction to go. He doesn’t know who’s standing next to him. He doesn’t even know where he’s going.
“This is just a confused old man. Now, the whole problem with the whole prosecution issue is I’m more concerned about presidential decisions,” he noted further, according to the outlet. “We’re talking about a guy who has the keys to nuclear arms. You’re talking about a guy who makes decisions on who to attack and who to defend, and who to support and has to make a defense of our policy – foreign and domestic.
“This is a guy who couldn’t sell his plan to anybody right now. I think the Democrats are starting to realize that in a very real way,” he added.
Thursday night, numerous Republicans expressed dismay over Hur’s decision not to charge Biden — citing his purported feebleness — despite evidence of mishandling and sharing classified information. This, they argued, highlighted a double standard of justice that had previously led to charges against Trump for comparable offenses.
Interestingly, the sentiment also found support among Biden supporters, including Harvard law professor emeritus Alan Dershowitz.
“You can’t have two different laws for similar acts,” Dershowitz told Just the News. “You have to have one single standard of justice.”
