Stephen Colbert roasts ‘clownish’ Robert Hur hearing into Biden probe
Colbert mocked attempt by Republicans to ‘draw some sort of moral equivalency between Joe Biden and Donald Trump’
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Your support makes all the difference.Stephen Colbert mocked former special counsel Robert Hur’s testimony before the House Judiciary Committee, in which he defended his investigation into Joe Biden’s handling of classified documents.
The late-night talk show host slammed the Tuesday testimony as yet another “clownish attempt” by the Republican party to “draw some sort of moral equivalency between Joe Biden and Donald Trump.”
Special counsel Mr Hur investigated Mr Biden’s handling of classified documents and declined to charge the president, but did comment on the president’s mental fitness, calling him a “sympathetic well-meaning elderly man with a poor memory.”
“This kind of assessment is sort of outside the normal job description of a special counsel,” Colbert said.
“It would be like your doctor saying, ‘Well, we ran some tests, Mr Johnson, and, uh, your cholesterol looks very good, but I am worried about how ugly you are.’”
Colbert claimed that Republicans were hoping to use details from Hur’s report to “damage Biden” ahead of the election.
“Yes, Biden has been dangerously forgetful,” Colbert said.
“Unlike Trump, who always remembers that he is running against Obama and unopposed at that since Nancy Pelosi dropped out,” he added, referencing Mr Trump’s recent blunders, mistaking his political rivals for other people, such as Mr Biden for Mr Obama and Nikki Haley for Ms Pelosi.
The show host pointed out that once you read through the 268-page transcript, it shows the 81-year-old president as having a far more accurate recall than was described in Mr Hur’s report.
“What do you know, it’s not as ‘old-man-forgets-a-lot’ as his summary made it out to be,” Colbert said, pointing to one part which details “...you… appear to have a photographic understanding…and recall…”
“So, it’s the exact opposite of his report summary,” Colbert said. “At this point, I’m worried about Hur’s cognitive ability.”
However, some parts of the transcripts caught Colbert’s eye, especially when the president appeared to make some jokes.
One part, when Mr Biden was recalling a trip to Mongolia read, “...we’re out in the middle of nowhere and they’re looking up on the hill… its a 20-mile horse race with all these kids under the age of 16 on bareback racing to come down. And you know, there are sumo wrestlers doin’ everything they do.”
He proceeds to talk about how he was then handed a bow and arrow and recalls targets on bales of hay before concluding, “I’m not a bad archer.”
“That, of course, in response to the question ‘Sir would you like a glass of water’,” Colbert quipped.
The host also pointed out how Mr Biden “joked” while the FBI was searching through his things.
“I just hope you didn’t find any risque pictures of my wife in a bathing suit, which you probably did. She’s beautiful.”
“What a strange day it must have been for those agents,” Colbert reacted.
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