Attorney General Merrick Garland said Thursday that it would have been ā€œabsurdā€ for someone in his position to edit or redact a special counselā€™s final report.

In response to a question about whether former special counsel Robert Hurā€™s characterization of President Joe Biden was inappropriate in his final report, Garland said it was his obligation to release a full and unedited report.

ā€œThe idea that an attorney general would edit or redact or censor the special counselā€™s explanation for why the special counsel reached the decision that the special counsel did ā€“ thatā€™s absurd,ā€ Garland said during a news conference at the Justice Department to announce an antitrust lawsuit against Apple.

While the facts of Hurā€™s report and the overall process of his investigation into whether Biden mishandled classified information havenā€™t been challenged, Hur has been criticized by allies of the president over whether his final report went too far by publicly criticizingā€™s Biden memory or selectively including excerpts of a deposition with the president.

Hur did not recommend charges against the president but his report led to plenty of consternation among Democrats about Hurā€™s description of Biden as a ā€œwell-meaning, elderly man with a poor memory.ā€

  • xmunk@sh.itjust.works
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    6 months ago

    I agree, though if a special counselā€™s report is intentionally misleading I think itā€™s extremely fair to add additional information as an addendum to the report that highlights the misinformation.

    I do agree that keeping the door open to editing special counsel reports is awful, it invalidates the entire purpose of appointing an independent investigator.

  • AutoTL;DR@lemmings.worldB
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    6 months ago

    This is the best summary I could come up with:


    Attorney General Merrick Garland said Thursday that it would have been ā€œabsurdā€ for someone in his position to edit or redact a special counselā€™s final report.

    In response to a question about whether former special counsel Robert Hurā€™s characterization of President Joe Biden was inappropriate in his final report, Garland said it was his obligation to release a full and unedited report.

    ā€œThe idea that an attorney general would edit or redact or censor the special counselā€™s explanation for why the special counsel reached the decision that the special counsel did ā€“ thatā€™s absurd,ā€ Garland said during a news conference at the Justice Department to announce an antitrust lawsuit against Apple.

    While the facts of Hurā€™s report and the overall process of his investigation into whether Biden mishandled classified information havenā€™t been challenged, Hur has been criticized by allies of the president over whether his final report went too far by publicly criticizingā€™s Biden memory or selectively including excerpts of a deposition with the president.

    Hur did not recommend charges against the president but his report led to plenty of consternation among Democrats about Hurā€™s description of Biden as a ā€œwell-meaning, elderly man with a poor memory.ā€


    The original article contains 197 words, the summary contains 197 words. Saved 0%. Iā€™m a bot and Iā€™m open source!