This Tuesday, Rep. Jerry Nadler (D-N.Y.) used a hearing of the House Judiciary Committee to go after right-wing conspiracy theories alleging mistreatment in the justice system of Donald Trump, political allies of his, and people like them.
Nadler, the top Democrat on that committee that’s currently led by Rep. Jim Jordan (R-Ohio), was confronting the associated theory from the Right that President Joe Biden is worthy of a lot more in criminal consequences than he’s getting — which is, well, nothing. But one area where Republicans have focused is the recovery of classified documents from locations associated with Biden, which was the focus of Tuesday’s hearing. Testifying was former Special Counsel Robert Hur, who investigated the situation and declined the possibility of charges but produced what many deemed a politically slanted report anyway.
“House Republicans may be desperate to convince America that white, conservative men are on the losing end of a two-tiered justice system, a theory that appeals to the MAGA crowd but has no basis in reality,” Nadler said. “But your comments today make me wonder if you have read the special counsel’s report at all. The Hur report does help us draw a distinction between President Biden and Donald Trump, just not the one you want.”
The first area of distinction, the Democrat said, was in the specifics of Biden’s classified documents situation versus the similar scandal ensnaring Trump, which did produce charges. Nadler relayed that the ex-special counsel in the Biden investigation concluded that there was no evidence that Biden either “intended or had reason to believe the information would be used to injure the United States.” The Democrat also emphasized indications of Biden’s consistent cooperation with federal investigators.
Nadler then turned to Trump and his allegedly extensive misdeeds. “And we know that, despite this outrageous conduct, the Department of Justice gave Trump every opportunity to avoid criminal charges,” Nadler added. Trump now stands accused of obstruction and the unlawful harboring of a variety of government documents.