Tensions ran high in Congress on Tuesday as Special Counsel Robert Huh testified about the investigation into Joe Biden's mishandling of classified documents.
During the heated exchange, Rep. Adam Schiff (D-CA) criticized Rep. Heo for language used in the Justice Department report, claiming it was unfavorable to Biden.
Representative Heo, who previously released a 345-page comprehensive report last month, discovered through an investigation that the confidential documents in question were stored carelessly at the Biden Center in Pennsylvania and President Biden's Delaware home.
“My team and I conducted a thorough and independent investigation. We have seen the evidence from the President. Confidential material intentionally kept In his opening speech, Rep. Heo said, “It was when I was a civilian after my term as Vice President ended.”
“This evidence includes a recorded conversation in which Mr. Biden tells a ghostwriter, “I just found all the classified material downstairs.” When Mr. Biden made these remarks, he was a private citizen chatting with a ghostwriter at his privately rented home in Virginia. “We also identified other recorded conversations in which Mr. Biden read classified information aloud to a ghostwriter,” he added.
Biden was not indicted on charges of reading classified information to a ghostwriter because jurors were able to conclude that his actions were “unintentional.” Additionally, the Justice Department said Biden “A sympathetic, well-meaning old man with a bad memory..”
My report reflects my best efforts to explain why I did not recommend charges against President Biden.
“My job was to determine whether the President “intentionally” retained or disclosed national defense information. In other words, you knowingly and intentionally did something prohibited by law. Such a decision could not be made without assessing the president's state of mind. “That's why he had to consider the president's memory and overall mental state, and how jurors in a criminal trial would perceive the president's memory and mental state,” he said.
Schiff, who misled the nation over the Trump-Russia collusion hoax and was reprimanded by his colleagues, accused Rep. Heo of making a “political choice” by publishing a report he believed was overly biased toward Joe Biden.
Schiff argued that Mr. Heo could have lied and presented the findings in a way that was less damaging to Biden, especially because he had not been “indicted.”
“What you wrote was deeply detrimental to the interests of the President. You said it wasn't political, but you probably understood the impact your words had. You would have understood the impact of the decision to move beyond specific documents, specific documents, to the very general, personal, biased and subjective opinions of the President. We knew it would have an impact on the political campaign. You had to understand it. And you did it anyway,” Schiff said in frustration.
Prime Minister Heo repeatedly emphasized that the scope of his duties was to prepare a comprehensive report. He resisted claims that there was an intention to bias the subject of the investigation or influence the political outcome.
“What you are suggesting is that we should provide another version of the report suitable for public release. That's nowhere in the rules. “We decided to prepare a comprehensive and thoroughly confidential report,” he said.
“Mr. Heo, there is a rule that says you must not do anything that unfairly infringes on the subject of the investigation when you refuse to be prosecuted.” Schiff retorted.
“We don’t just add language that we think will be useful to political campaigns. You weren't born yesterday. You understood exactly what you were doing. It was a choice. “It wasn’t necessary to include that language,” he added.
Schiff was angry that Rep. Heo told the truth in his report.