Live updates: Robert Hur testifies on Biden classified documents investigations

The White House said Tuesday the issue of President Joe Biden’s memory had been raised in ways that were “selectively chopped up and edited,” just before special counsel Robert Hur was set to testify on Capitol Hill. 

White House Counsel office spokesperson Ian Sams told CNN said that was because “of the confusing way” Hur’s report looking at Biden’s handling of classified documents was written, and that the focus on Biden’s memory was “because the facts and evidence don’t support this case.”

As part of his forceful pushback against some of the characterizations in the report, Biden has publicly stated that Hur was the one to bring his son, Beau, up as part of the interview. 

“How in the hell dare he raise that,” a visibly angry Biden said after the report was released. “Frankly, when I was asked that question, I thought to myself, ‘Wasn’t any of their damn business.'”

A transcript of the interview reviewed by CNN shows that Biden mentioned his son as part of a broader discussion of his handling of classified documents.

But Sams argued that Biden had been “asked about his work on his book about his son’s passing, about his work after his vice presidency on the Biden Cancer Initiative, something that was so deeply motivated by Beau’s illness and passing.”