What the Hur report said about Biden's handling of documents In his fiery news conference last week about special counsel Robert K. Hur's report, President Biden disputed that the report — which recommended no criminal charges concerning his handling of classified documents — concluded he had willfully retained the documents. Biden quoted from specific passages — Page 215, for example — to make the case that the report said the "exact opposite" of the executive summary being quoted in news reports. A large part of the Hur report is devoted to examining whether prosecutors could make a case against the president that would result in a conviction. Despite the evidence gathered by prosecutors, the report repeatedly concludes that it would be tough to win a case — often because Biden had reasonable defenses, the facts were murky or Biden had cooperated fully with the investigation. Indeed, the report says jurors could decide that Biden "did not willfully retain" documents related to Afghanistan and national defense information found at his home. It also says evidence suggests he did not willfully retain documents found at the University of Delaware and that he did not willfully disclose classified information to someone not authorized to receive it. In many cases, the special counsel decided that the documents were mishandled by mistake — or were not especially important anymore, despite the classification level. As a reader service, we went beyond the executive summary and examined what the report says about each specific set of documents discovered in the year-long investigation and whether Biden willfully retained national defense information or willfully disclosed it. Click the link to read our full report. Enjoy this newsletter? Forward it to someone else who'd like it! If this email was forwarded to you, sign up here. Did you hear something fact-checkable? Send it here; we'll check it out. 'Drill, baby, drill' and other nonsensical Trump claims about inflation Under President Biden, U.S. inflation as measured by the consumer price index neared 9 percent in June 2022, the highest level in 43 years. While inflation has moderated — it was 3.1 percent in January — the price hike early in his term remains an albatross around Biden's reelection chances. The lowering of inflation has improved consumer confidence, but the Federal Reserve has kept interest rates high, apparently not convinced inflation has moderated enough. Trump exploits Biden's vulnerability on inflation at every rally. But Trump being Trump, he exaggerates the impact of inflation and misleads about the cause — and then makes promises he can't possibly keep. For instance: - "Remember this: Gasoline, fuel, oil, natural gas went up to a level that it was impossible … That's what caused inflation, and we're going to bring it down because we're going to go drill, baby, drill."
- Democrats "were saying that 'one thing I will admit, if Trump were president, you wouldn't have had Israel attacked, you wouldn't have had Ukraine attacked, and you wouldn't have had inflation.' "
- "Who can get elected with high interest rates, open borders, food that costs 40 percent, 50 percent, 60 percent more than it did just a few years ago?"
We took a tour through Trump's misleading and false rhetoric on inflation in recent weeks. Click the link to learn more. We're always looking for fact-check suggestions. You can reach us via email, Twitter (@GlennKesslerWP and @AdriUsero) or Facebook. We're also on TikTok. Read about our process and rating scale here, and sign up for the newsletter here. About the cats: It's a Friday and sometimes our fact checks deal with heavy or depressing subjects. So we hope to bring a smile to your face. Scroll down to read other election-related fact checks |
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