Special Counsel Robert Hur appeared before the House Judiciary Committee for his report on President Biden's apparent keeping of classified documents as Vice President yet chose not to charge him for being "a well-meaning elderly man with poor memory." During his round of questioning, Representative Andy Biggs (R-AZ) argued the President did display intentionality in sharing classified information with his ghostwriter.
"So if it is not willful, we might say an accident, something negligent, careless, that would not necessarily rise to willful, intentional, or purposeful, right?" Rep. Biggs began.
Special Counsel Hur replied that different standards of intent exist under the law, prompting Rep. Biggs to point out that the incident in which Biden lost "code words" at a party in the Hamptons in 2010 would be considered intentional.
However, Rep. Biggs argued Biden's 2017 discussions with his ghostwriter, Mark Zwonitzer, displayed intentionality in giving away classified information.
As the report indicated, Biden would read personal notes to Zwonitzer for the autobiography Promise Me, Dad, sometimes skipping over portions containing classified information. In April 2017, Biden met with Zwonitzer in person, struggling to read his handwriting and showing the ghostwriter, where he said, "Some of this may be classified, so be careful," and allowed him to read it.
Biggs said this indicated Biden willfully kept classified information and willingly shared it.
"My immediate response was, 'Okay, so he knows he has got classified docs. He is looking at this, he cannot read [it, and] he is is giving this to somebody he knows has no security clearance.' [Biden] says, 'Hey, read this, but be careful, it might be classified," Biggs argued.
Moreover, he suggested that if Biden suspected it was classified, he would have told Zwonitzer, "I do not know if it is classified, but we are going to skip over this."
Thus, the Arizona Congressman declared, "Until that is resolved, he did not do that. What he said was, 'read it anyway."
In February, Representative Jared Moskowitz (D-FL) suggested there could have been benign reasons Biden kept some classified information yet reiterated the unauthorized keeping of documents was "a bipartisan concern."
