Ex-federal prosecutor: Robert Hur’s job isn’t to do 'opposition research for the Republican party'

During a Fox News interview earlier this week, former federal prosecutor and ex-US Rep. Trey Gowdy (R-SC) criticized special counsel Robert Hur's report finding no cause to charge President Joe Biden over his handling of classified documents.

Legal experts slammed the "political" comments Hur — who was appointed by Trump as a US Attorney — included in his final report, such as saying "a jury would find Biden to be a sympathetic figure and 'a well-meaning, elderly man with a poor memory.'"

According to a February 15 NBC News report, the "political battle" over the report "is just beginning," as "Biden's aides anticipate a lengthy partisan clash over the transcript, and possibly the audio recording, that would keep the president on the defensive over questions about his mental fitness as he campaigns for re-election, according to two people familiar with the discussions. The interview was a far more freewheeling discussion than what was detailed in Hur’s report, these people said."

READ MORE: 'I don’t give a darn': Experts blast 'political swipe' in special counsel’s Biden report

Fox host John Roberts asked Gowdy, "If you don't release the transcript, that could also be somewhat damaging. Fair?"

Former federal prosecutor Trey Gowdy replied, "I think prosecutors ought to speak through indictments. What [former FBI director] Jim Comey did with his press conference was wrong. Robert Mueller has no business weighing in on anything other than whether or not a crime was committed. Rob Hur, the same analysis."

He continued, "Prosecutors don’t speak to press conferences or reports. Rob Hur’s job was to write a confidential report, not do opposition research for the Republican Party. Prosecutors are held to a different standard. We’re not political hacks and they should not act like that."

Fox News chief political analyst Bill Hume disagreed with Gowdy's assertion, saying it was Attorney General Merrick Garland's choice to release the report.

READ MORE: 'The villain here is Merrick Garland': White House upset with AG’s handling of Biden probe

“He filed a confidential report and the president’s attorney general decided to release it,” Hume said. “So, how is that on the prosecutor? I don’t think it is. It may be in keeping with our current standards of, you know, everything released, but, it certainly wasn’t up to Hur.”

Jim Comey's October 2016 press conference — which Gowdy mentioned — followed the ex-FBI director's release of a letter about Hillary Clinton's personal emails, which many say likely led to Trump's victory over the ex-Secretary of State.

Politico reported earlier this month that anonymous sources close to Biden said "the president is privately 'grumbling' about Garland's leadership of the Department of Justice," emphasizing that he's specifically "upset about Garland's oversight of special counsel Robert Hur's and his hands-off approach to Hur's report summarizing the classified documents probe."

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