Bill Press: Blame Robert Hur – but blame the media, too | Bill Press | Columns

Maybe we need a new law: Ban the Justice Department from meddling in presidential politics!

That law should have been passed in 2016, when FBI Director James Comey blew up the presidential election – twice! – with his ridiculous investigation into Hillary Clinton’s emails. First, on July 5, when clearing Clinton of any legal wrongdoing, but going out of his way to accuse her of being “extremely careless” in handling classified information. Then, on Oct. 28 – just 11 days before the election! – telling Congress he was reopening his investigation. Which he shut down again, filing no charges, on Nov. 6, just two days before election day. Many observers blame Comey and the resulting media firestorm for costing Clinton the election and saddling us with Donald Trump.

And now comes Special Counsel Robert Hur. Why Attorney General Merrick Garland even appointed a Special Counsel to examine President Biden’s earlier handling of documents is one question. Why he named Hur, a former Trump-appointed U.S. attorney, to investigate Biden is another question.

But the fact is that, like James Comey before him, Robert Hur improperly injected himself into presidential politics.

In the Feb. 8 release of his report, Hur was not content with clearing Biden of all charges. As if to show how disappointed he was that he couldn’t find any evidence to charge Biden with a crime, he added his now infamous, gratuitous comment that one reason he didn’t press charges was because he was convinced no jury would convict such a “ well-meaning, elderly man with a poor memory.” Biden couldn’t even remember when his son died, Hur sniffed.

But, as we learned this week with the release of the transcript of Biden’s deposition, Hur’s smear on Biden’s mental capacity was not only gratuitous, it was misleading. It was wrong. He lied about it.

Take Hur’s most damaging comment. In releasing his report, Hur wrote: “He did not remember, even within several years, when his son Beau died.” In fact, the transcript shows it was Biden, not Hur, who raised the issue of Beau – with the following exchange. Biden: “So, what was happening, though – what month did Beau die? Oh, God, May 30?” (Two aides chime in with the year, 2015). Biden: “Was it 2015 he had died?” Unidentified aide: “It was May of 2015.”

In his testimony before the House Judiciary Committee, Hur insisted that he’d been “fair” to Biden in describing this exchange. The transcript proves otherwise. When Biden volunteered the exact month and date of Beau’s death correctly, and readily accepted 2015 as the year, it’s hardly “fair” to say he couldn’t remember his son’s death “even within several years.”

As Rep. Adam Schiff (D-CA) pointed out at the Judiciary Committee hearing, Hur deliberately chose to add that partisan, explosive language in the middle of a presidential election. “You understood that you made a choice. That was a political choice. It was the wrong choice.”

But, of course, while slamming Biden’s poor memory, Hur didn’t mention the one time in the interview he praised Biden’s memory. Again, from the transcript. When Biden finished describing his Wilmington, Delaware, home, Hur volunteered: “Understood. That was very helpful. We have some photographs maybe to show you, but you have – appear to have a photographic understanding and recall of the house.”

Wow! Joe Biden has a “photographic memory.” You never saw that in Robert Hur’s report. The problem is, you never saw it in any media coverage of Hur’s report, either. In fact, this week’s Judiciary Committee hearing was, more than anything else, an expose of the media’s failure to tell the truth about Hur’s investigation.

The media went berserk upon the release of Hur’s report. Headlines screamed “political disaster” and “devastating portrait.” As documented by Popular Information, between Feb. 8 and the March 12 Judiciary Committee hearing, no fewer than 66 articles about the “well-meaning, elderly man with a poor memory” were published by the New York Times (34), Washington Post (18), and Wall Street Journal (14).

Only after release of the transcript did all three publications belatedly attempt to correct the record. The Journal admitted the transcript painted a “more nuanced picture” than originally reported. Which, if you ask me, is too little, too late.

Shame on the media for running with Hur’s explosive comments without checking the facts. There’s only way for them now to regain any respect: start focusing less on Joe Biden’s memory, and start focusing more on Donald Trump’s. At least Biden remembers his wife’s name.

(Bill Press is host of The BillPressPod, and author of 10 books, including: “From the Left: My Life in the Crossfire.” His email address is: bill@billpress.com. Readers may also follow him on Twitter @billpresspod.)