White House tells the press how to cover the special counsel probe

A top White House official wrote a letter to the White House Correspondents’ Association informing reporters how to cover Special Counsel Robert Hur’s damning classified documents report. The report, released last Thursday, said 81-year-old President Joe Biden had ‘diminished faculties’ and that a jury would likely find him a ‘sympathetic, well-meaning elderly man with a poor memory.’

In the letter, White House spokesperson Ian Sams complained how headlines said Biden ‘willfully retained’ classified information, when the report should have said ‘some’ evidence was found and the evidence eventually ‘refuted willful retention or disclosure.’ Sams told reporters that he understood their jobs are ‘difficult’ – as was the report to get through.

‘It is nearly 400 pages long and written in a confusing, meandering way,’ Sams said. ‘It is not straightforward.’ The White House has attempted to deal with the fallout from Hur’s report for the past week. Biden, himself, tried to address the contents of the report in a surprise press conference last Thursday night – one where he took a combative tone with reporters and said the president of Egypt was from ‘Mexico’ instead.

Sams came to the podium and answered questions at Friday’s White House press briefing. The bulk of Sams’ letter addressed the question of whether Biden ‘willfully retained’ classified information, but polling out Thursday showed the report didn’t do much to change public perception on whether the president mishandled classified documents. Instead it likely did more to reinforce existing views of Biden’s ‘physical and mental vigor,’ a survey from Monmouth University found.

Just 36 percent of voters said they were ‘very concerned’ that the documents found in Biden’s home posed a threat to national security – compared to 39 percent who held this belief a year ago. Perceptions about Biden’s ability to be an effective leader at 81 years of age were low.

The poll found that just 32 percent of voters surveyed believed Biden had the mental and physical stamina to be president. That number stood at 52 percent when Biden was running for the White House in 2020.

An NBC report from Wednesday raised more questions about the president’s response to the report. During his Thursday night press conference he lashed out at Hur for bringing up his late son, Beau Biden.

‘How in the [expletive] dare he raise that?’ Biden said. ‘Frankly, when I was asked the question, I thought to myself, it wasn’t any of their [expletive] business.’ But two sources told the network that Hur didn’t bring up Beau Biden during his five-hour sit-down with the president – it was Biden who mentioned his late son.

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