President Joe Biden’s low-profile after attacks in Israel tied to classified documents probe as the commander-in-chief was preoccupied with a “voluntary interview.”
As the death toll in Israel climbed past 900, with at least 11 Americans counted among them and more potentially among the dozens taken hostage, eyes turned toward the president for a show of leadership and strength. Instead, on both Sunday and Monday, the administration had called a lid before noon, evidently as he accommodated an interview with Special Counsel Robert Hur.
In a statement to the press, White House spokesman Ian Sams disclosed, “The President has been interviewed as part of the investigation being led by Special Counsel Robert Hur. The voluntary interview was conducted at the White House over two days, Sunday and Monday, and concluded Monday.”
“As we have said from the beginning, the President and the White House are cooperating with this investigation, and as it has been appropriate, we have provided relevant updates publicly, being as transparent as we can consistent with protecting and preserving the integrity of the investigation,” the statement claimed. “We would refer other questions to the Justice Department at this time.”
Hur had been appointed in January by Attorney General Merrick Garland as news initially broke that classified documents had been discovered at Biden’s offices at the Penn Biden Center in November, prompting a wider search that uncovered more housed in the garage of his Wilmington, Delaware residence beside his Corvette and then within his personal library.
Who is Robert Hur, the special counsel investigating Biden’s classified docs? https://t.co/p4Z5kwMjGN pic.twitter.com/qmhYNHD5Gw
— BPR (@BIZPACReview) January 14, 2023
In August, NBC News had reported that attorneys for the president had been negotiating under what terms Biden would sit for an interview for about a month. It was also suggested that interviews with the central figure of such a probe typically signaled the investigation was “near the end of the process.”
Despite that, when asked whether there would be an interview with Hur on Aug. 25, Biden had responded, “There’s no such request and no such interest.”
Meanwhile, the timing of the interview and the delayed announcement of it only compounded the optics that the president remained “sleeping on the job,” an accusation leveled by Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) after Biden himself had admitted in his initial remarks Saturday that he hadn’t begun responding to the attacks until morning in Washington, D.C., hours after Hamas had begun indiscriminately slaughtering innocents, including woman and children.
Reacting to the president falling off the radar, syndicated radio host Mark Levin was among those who slammed the “disgusting disgrace.”
“Biden has ‘called a lid’ for the rest of the day, meaning no public or press events,” he wrote on X. “This is a disgusting disgrace. And, yet again, our enemies around the world take notice.”
Biden has “called a lid” for the rest of the day, meaning no public or press events. This is a disgusting disgrace. And, yet again, our enemies around the world take notice.
— Mark R. Levin (@marklevinshow) October 9, 2023
Biden calls a lid before noon. No one in the admin can speak to the number of American hostages. State Dept. deleting tweets. What a terrifying embarrassment.
— Dana Loesch (@DLoesch) October 9, 2023
JUST IN: Biden has called a “lid” before noon for the SECOND DAY IN A ROW.
This means @POTUS will not be seen or heard from for the rest of the day—even with the world imploding.
Who is running this country??! pic.twitter.com/mL1yyZmkZE
— Nick Sortor (@nicksortor) October 9, 2023
Regarding the investigative interview, the Associated Press made note that previous sitting presidents had done the same with President Bill Clinton receiving questioning in 1998 from independent counsel Kenneth Starr and President George W. Bush taking part in an interview after a CIA operative’s identity had been leaked.
Former President Donald Trump had not sat for an interview, but rather attorneys had submitted written answers to questions after Special Counsel Robert Mueller had sought answers for his investigation at the time.
Native of Brooklyn, NY, Kevin Haggerty is a graduate of Hunter College where he studied Cultural Anthropology and Geography. An avid reader and truth seeker, he currently resides in Texas with his wife and their dog and, when he isn't researching current events and their impacts, you'll find him spending time with friends and family or working on his next novel.
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