Garland blasts notion of censoring Hur report as 'absurd'

Attorney General Merrick Garland on Thursday rejected assertions that he ought to have censored special counsel Robert Hur's comments on President Joe Biden's memory that featured in his final report on the president's handling of classified materials.

"I said from the very beginning, that I would make public, the report of the special — of all the special counsels appointed during a period of my service. That is consistent with the regulation, which requires a special counsel to explain what the special counsel's decisions are," Garland said during a Thursday press conference, according to The Hill. "The idea that an attorney general would edit or redact or censor the special counsel's explanation for why the special counsel reached the decision that special counsel did? That's absurd."

Hur's investigation "uncovered evidence that President Biden willfully retained and disclosed classified materials after his vice presidency when he was a private citizen." In the final report, the special counsel highlighted that Biden's poor memory and age were key factors in his decision not to bring charges, suggesting that "Mr. Biden would likely present himself to a jury, as he did during our interview of him, as a sympathetic, well-meaning, elderly man with a poor memory."

The remarks prompted a fierce response from Biden, who angrily denied problems with his memory. Garland defended his release of the unredacted report, saying that Biden had appointed him with the intention of preserving the Department of Justice's independence.

"When the president announced my nomination, he said to me directly and then to the American public that he intended to restore the independence and the integrity of the Justice Department and that he wanted me to serve as the lawyer for the American people, not the lawyer for the president," he added. "I sincerely believe that that’s what he intended then, and I sincerely believe that that’s what he intends now."

The release of the report renewed longstanding speculations about Biden's age and mental fitness for office. Some Republicans, such as New York GOP Rep. Claudia Tenney, went as far as to suggest Hur's conclusions warranted removing Biden from office under the 25th Amendment.

Ben Whedon is an editor and reporter for Just the News. Follow him on X, formerly Twitter.