On the recordJune 12, 2024
Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman from California for yielding time. This matter is simple, and in its simplicity is the clarity of its appropriate resolution. The audio recording of President Biden's interview with Special Counsel Robert Hur is demeanor evidence. Demeanor is one's outward manner, a way of conducting oneself. One might say his bearing. In some circumstances, demeanor evidence is the most probative, powerful evidence that can be heard. Better than words, it can evidence credibility or evasiveness and avoidance. Especially in this circumstance, it can evidence a witness' capacities to observe, recall, and relate information accurately. President Biden shared classified information with his ghostwriter in pursuance of securing his $8 million book advance. Mr. Hur attributed the Justice Department's decision not to recommend prosecution of President Biden for misusing and mishandling classified documents on this and other occasions to the fact that he is an elderly man with poor memory. A raw transcript doesn't inform the Judiciary Committee sufficiently to evaluate the reasonableness of that determination, especially since President Biden hotly contested Special Counsel Hur's characterization. Demeanor evidence could powerfully clarify whether that exercise of prosecutorial discretion was politically neutral or politically freighted.…





