Special Counsel Robert Hur’s Biden Report Shows ‘Blatant Double Standard’: Tom Cotton

President Donald Trump, accompanied by Sen. Tom Cotton, makes an announcement in the Roosevelt Room at the White House, on August 2, 2017. (Zach Gibson/Getty Images)

Sen. Tom Cotton (R-Ark.) criticizes what he perceives as a two-tiered justice system in handling classified documents, suggesting a double standard in the treatment of former President Donald Trump and President Joe Biden.

During an interview with Fox News on Feb. 11, Mr. Cotton discussed the investigation into President Biden’s handling of classified documents, as outlined in Special Counsel Robert Hur’s report, with host Shannon Bream, raising concerns about the president’s mental acuity.

“There’s no new bombshells about President Biden. The American people have seen for years that he is a man with a failing memory,” Mr. Cotton said.

“What this report indicates, though, is that you have a blatant double standard. If Joe Biden is not going to face criminal charges, Donald Trump shouldn’t be facing criminal charges either,” Mr. Cotton noted.

On Feb. 8, Mr. Hur released a 388-page report that found President Biden “willfully retained and disclosed classified materials after his vice presidency when he was a private citizen.” However, the special counsel decided not to prosecute the president due to insufficient evidence to establish his guilt “beyond a reasonable doubt” and the president’s “poor memory.”

The special counsel’s report described President Biden as “a sympathetic, well-meaning, elderly man with a poor memory.” The report also referred to the president’s mental fitness as “hazy,” “significantly limited,” and showed signs of “diminished faculties and faulty memory.”

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The senator questioned the solidity of the special counsel’s justification not to charge President Biden due to his “poor memory,” arguing that “President Biden’s memory is failing not just now but seven years ago.”

In the interview, Mr. Cotton emphasized that the report indicates President Biden deliberately held classified material and shared it with his ghostwriter. “That’s clear. That’s exactly what Donald Trump has been charged with,” Mr. Cotton said.

Meanwhile, in June 2023, Special Counsel Jack Smith indicted President Trump on 37 counts in connection with allegations that the 45th president willfully retained classified documents, obstructed justice, and made false statements in connection with the sensitive documents he kept at his Mar-a-Lago home.

Mr. Cotton also accused Democrats of targeting President Trump to prevent him from being elected in November. “The Democratic Party knows the only way to stop Donald Trump from being elected president this fall is to try to convict him and imprison him. That’s what you would expect to see in a place like Pakistan or Brazil, not in the United States of America,” he said.

Call to Drop Trump’s Case

After it was revealed that President Joe Biden had willfully retained sensitive national security materials but would face no charges, President Trump released a statement, saying, “This has now proven to be a two-tiered system of justice and unconstitutional selective prosecution.”

“The Biden Documents Case is 100 times different and more severe than mine. I did nothing wrong, and I cooperated far more.

“What Biden did is outrageously criminal. He had 50 years of documents, 50 times more than I had, and ”WILLFULLY RETAINED“ them. I was covered by the Presidential Records Act,” the 45th president said.

The former president has also called on Mr. Smith to immediately drop all charges against him in the Mar-a-Lago classified documents case.

“Jack Smith should drop this Case immediately. ELECTION INTERFERENCE,” he wrote.

Unlike President Trump, who faces multiple charges related to sensitive documents he kept at his Florida home, President Biden has not been charged with any crimes.

The documents President Biden retained include classified materials related to military and foreign policy in Afghanistan and notebooks with handwritten notes about national security that implicated sensitive intelligence sources and methods, according to Mr. Hur’s report.

There were mixed reactions in Congress to the report and Mr.Hur’s decision not to charge President Biden. Republicans echoed President Trump’s claims of a two-tiered justice system, while Democrats came out in support of President Biden.

Tom Ozimek contributed to this report.