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CNN
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The White House is expressing its frustration with recent media coverage.
In a letter sent Tuesday to The White House Correspondents’ Association Ian Sams, a spokesman for the White House Counsel’s office, expressed concern about the way the media covered Special Counsel Robert Hur’s report on the treatment by President Joe Biden classified documents.
In the letter, which CNN is the first to publish, Sams admitted that “covering the report is a challenge,” given that it is “nearly 400 pages” and “is not simple.” Hur’s references to Biden’s mental acuity, he acknowledged, distracted from the heart of the issue, writing that Hur’s “erroneous and inappropriate personal comments distracted from the substance.” .
“But these facts underscore the importance of careful and patient coverage,” Sams wrote. “Instead, many media outlets have reported striking inaccuracies that misrepresent the report’s findings on the president, and reporters in the White House briefing room have asked questions with false content or based on false premises. »
The White House, in particular, is frustrated that the press presented Hur’s report as conclusively finding that Biden “intentionally” mishandled classified documents. The report itself in its entirety is not as clear.
In his summary, Hur said the investigation “uncovered evidence that President Biden deliberately retained and disclosed classified documents after his vice presidency while he was a private citizen.” But, more importantly, Hur then wrote: “We conclude that the evidence does not establish Mr. Biden’s guilt beyond a reasonable doubt.” »
A number of media outlets, however, downplayed this broader conclusion. Sams’ letter included several examples of prominent news organizations where their headlines could have been more comprehensive.
Sams further argued that the evidence mentioned by Hur in the summary presenting the report was later questioned by Hur himself. For example, regarding the Afghanistan documents, Hur wrote: “While it is natural to assume that Mr. Biden intentionally put the Afghanistan documents in the box and knew they were there , there is actually a lack of evidence on these points. .” Regarding his personal journals, Hur wrote: “The evidence does not show that when Mr. Biden shared the specific passages with his ghostwriter, Mr. Biden knew that the passages were classified and were intended to share classified information. »
Indeed, the lengthy report is full of plausible explanations for Biden’s behavior that refute the idea that he intentionally broke the law.
Sams’ letter is a new step by White House officials to counter press narratives about the report. On Friday, Sams appeared in the briefing room, answering reporters’ questions about Hur’s report. And CNN has learned that in recent days, White House officials and the president’s personal lawyer have clashed behind the scenes with reporters over their coverage, with limited success.
But it’s not just the White House that makes such arguments. Some legal experts also falsified media coverage of the Hur report. Andrew Weissmann, a former assistant U.S. attorney who worked on Robert Mueller’s special counsel investigation into Donald Trump, and Ryan Goodman, co-editor of Just Security and law professor at New York University, wrote a scathing critique of the media coverage this weekend.
“Special Advisor Robert Hur’s report has been widely misrepresented by the press. » Weissmann and Goodman wroteadding that the media “falsely and repeatedly claimed that the Hur report found that Biden deliberately withheld classified documents, in other words, that Biden committed a crime.”
The aggressive defense mounted by the White House reflects the growing awareness within the Biden world of the damage caused by the Hur report. Not only did Biden’s age and mental acuity become a much-discussed topic due to Hur’s remarks, but the idea that Biden deliberately mishandled national secrets seeped into the public consciousness. Reversing this trend will be difficult.
The White House, of course, knows it won’t be able to convince news organizations to reverse their previous coverage. But he hopes he can at least persuade the media to be more careful and nuanced when covering the story in the future. As Sams wrote in his letter: “I am obligated to help illustrate the facts in this case and I urge caution in future reporting that fails to pay attention to detail or misinterprets facts. facts and evidence. »