Wednesday, March 13, 2024

Guilt v. Innocence

Watching the Congressional hearing where former special counsel Robert Hur defended his report on the classified documents case against President Joe Biden was a reminder that more often than not, the Department of Justice gets these things right.

Biden almost certainly broke the law technically by retaining classified reports after leaving the vice-presidency in 2017. But there is no viable evidence that he did so knowingly; in fact it was his staff that packed up the documents, and when he discovered it he promptly returned the material to the government.

This is in sharp contrast, of course, to the case against Donald Trump.

Trump has fought the DoJ at every turn, hiding the documents he took with him after leaving office, obstructing attempts to recover them, lying repeatedly and instructing his lawyers and staff to conspire with him to commit all of these allegedly criminal acts.

These two investigations provide a case study of the difference between guilt beyond a reasonable doubt and the legal equivalent of innocence.

In any event, Hur appears to have handled the Biden case in an even-handed manner, except for describing the president as an elderly man with a poor memory.

That unfortunately is what his report and this hearing will be best remembered for.

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