Judicial Watch obtains records showing Biden White House pressured Hur for advanced copy of report

The conservative legal group Judicial Watch on Thursday received documents from the Justice Department that showed the Biden administration pressured Special Counsel Robert Hur for an advanced copy of his report on former President Joe Biden's handling of classified documents. 

The records were obtained through a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) lawsuit, which comes after the group sued the Biden administration over the report. 

The legal group received 49 pages of records from the Justice Department, which showed the Biden White House and the former president's personal lawyers put pressure on Hur for the report by repeatedly asking for an advanced copy. They sent four requests for a copy between October 2023 and January 2024.

“These new records further show how desperate the Biden gang was to hide the full truth about Biden’s failing memory – and criminality," Judicial Watch President Tom Fitton said in a statement.

The first email requesting an advanced copy occurred just days after Hur's interview with the former president, which was sent by Special Counsel to the President Richard Sauber and Biden’s personal attorney Bob Bauer.

"At our meeting last Friday, we requested that you provide an overview of where matters stand in this case, particularly any remaining questions or concerns we should address," the Oct. 18 letter reads. "We also asked for the opportunity to discuss your expected report to the Attorney General at the conclusion of the investigation, including time to review it prior to its submission to the Attorney General. 

"You advised us that you were not prepared to engage with these requests at that time but would take them under consideration," they continued. "Moreover, to the extent that your report touches in any way upon procedures in this or prior administrations for the handling of sensitive national security information, your report will also be read with intense interest in every foreign capital. It could affect the national security interests of the United States in ways that none of us can anticipate."

Other attempts occurred on Oct. 31, Dec. 15, and Jan. 3, and Hur sent a nondisclosure agreement to Sauber and other members of Biden's personal and White House legal team on Jan. 9. 

The records additionally included a letter from the attorneys that complained about the criticism of Biden's memory, stating that the language was "prejudicial."

"We do not believe that the report’s treatment of President Biden’s memory is accurate or appropriate," the attorneys said. "The report uses highly prejudicial language to describe a commonplace occurrence among witnesses: a lack of recall of years-old events. Such comments have no place in a Department of Justice report, particularly one that in the first paragraph announces that no criminal charges are 'warranted' and that 'the evidence does not establish Mr. Biden’s guilt.'

"If the evidence does not establish guilt, then discussing the jury impact of President Biden’s hypothetical testimony at a trial that will never occur is entirely superfluous," they concluded.

Misty Severi is a news reporter for Just The News. You can follow her on X for more coverage.