Thursday, March 14, 2024

Who is Robert Kyoung Hur, the DOJ's spcial counsel investigating Hunter Biden

 



It seems that no one, neither Democrats or Republicans, was pleased with Speical Council Robert Kyoung Hur's report on President Biden's handling of classified governmentt documents.

Democrats on the House Judiciary Committee criticized Hur's assessment of Biden's memory and Republicans didn't like that Hur ultimately vindicated Biden's mishandling of the documents.

"What I've observed in this hearing is that one side thinks you're trying to get Trump elected and the other side thinks you're trying to get President Biden elected," said Rep. Ken Buck, R-Colorado. "Welcome to Congress."

"I did not sanitize my explanation, nor did I disparage the president unfairly," he said in defending his report. "I explained to the attorney general my decision, and the reasons for it. That's what I was required to do."

 In Januaary 2023 Attorney General Merrick Garland appointed Hur, a Republican, to conduct the investigation of the alleged unauthorized removal and retention of classified documents discovered at the Penn Biden Center for Diplomacy and Global Engagement and the Wilmington, Delaware private residence of President Joseph R. Biden, Jr.

Hur testified in front of the Judicial Committee as a civilian. The day after he issued  his report, Hur resigned. 

Democrats on the judiciary committee accused Hur of deliberately mentioning Biden's alleged memory lapses a political act.

“You could’ve written the report about his comments with specific recollection of a set of documents but you chose a general reference to the president. You understood when you made that decision, that you would ignite a political firestorm with that language, didn’t you?” said Demorat Adam Schiff,D-CA.,

“What you did write was deeply prejudicial to the interests of the president,” Schiff said. “You say it was not political and yet, you must have understood — you must have understood — the impact of your words.”

His parents are Haesook Hur and Dr. Young Hur of Monroe Township New Jersey, The New York Times reported. Her father is an anesthesiologist, according to a NYTimes article.

Republicans were just as critical at Hur's decision to not file charges against Biden. Hur felt that there was not enough evidence to convince a jury of any crimes. However, after the hearing, Hur said his reporte did not exonerate the President.

As a US Attorney, one of the high-profile cases he “led criminal cases against former Mayor Catherine Pugh, a Democrat, and two state delegates,” reported The Baltimore Sun. Pugh was convicted of wire fraud and tax evasion, according to a press release from the  DOJ.

In 2022 he was appointed by Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan to head a commission to investigate hate crimes against Asian Americans.

Before his appointment as Special Counsel last year,  Hur was a partner in the Washington, D.C. office of Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher, and Co-Chair of the Firm’s Crisis Management Practice Group. 

EDITOR'S NOTE: For additional commentary, news and views from an AANHPI perspective, follow me at Threads.net/eduardodiok@DioknoEd on Twitter or at the blog Views From the Edge.




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