Canvas, Cannon Office building balcony, its interesting spot over lucky its beautiful out here and i thought was really a lot colder. Thought was going to get code. It might be a little chilly at times in this hearing room. As we were pointing out in the beginning of this both democrats and republicans are a little upset about how all this played out. Obviously, republicans wanted to see the president indicted over this, but democrats initially thought her might not take these kinds of shots that they think he did and it appears he did in this report, but paul, i mean, you have a draft of some of these statements that her is going to make. What stands out to you. I just spoke with this source close to rob hur and its interesting, hes walking in. Im told a width the viewpoint that hes not looking to make anyone happy, which is probably pretty good because we know everyone is unhappy with the rubber for one reason or another. But he has prepared for this. Interestingly, he left the Justice Department last week, but before he left the office of legislative affairs actually helped him prepare for this. Now they didnt tell him what to say, but helped its been prepare for this. Now he knows hes gonna get questions from democrats who are furious about the comments he made about President Bidens memory. But as we see in this Opening Statement, he said, look, i had to quote, show my work now we also know republicans are going to be mad at him because he didnt charge biden, right . Theyre gonna make the comparison with trump. Im told that im going to remind them that he did not find biden innocent, but did not believe that he could win at trial. And he believes her believes that if everybody is mad at you you did your job as Special Counsel yeah. But you know, kasie, you know, lots of things should be pointed out here, i suppose. First of all we have to say this for the Tenant Thousands of time that biden when asked for the documents, they got the documents back to the government when trump was asked for the documents, lots of other things happen that did not play out kasie urinary official read when you hear some of these new excerpts coming out, especially, i mean, i thought that was fascinating you know, the detail that evan perez was talking about this exchange over bo biden the day that he died. It does not sound the way it was initially portrayed as evan outlined and, you know, we have this transcript five hours, right. So its enormous. Right . We printed it out i probably killed too many trees doing that, but im going to sit here and go through it. But but what i have managed to glean from it and evan touched on this, was this didnt come across as though it was a present but in under duress, who was being grilled on details that he could not come up with. This was someone who was having and weve seen biden do this in public. If you ever ever with them in private, he doesnt in private to write. He has these kind of freewheeling conversation joking discussions. Thats what was going on here. And i think for the biden team, i mean, my big question is go it goes back to that Press Conference that the president had when this first came out where he was clearly angry, clearly wanted to go and do that, but had he not what do we have been more focused on the substance of whats its in here, which is that they ultimately didnt charge him. And it is worth, i think, especially in light of that incredible exclusive that our colleagues Kaitlan Collins and polands had, where you have a trump, one of the trump employees in that indictment talking about moving talking about essentially what was the cover up, right . I think the clearest contrast here between the biden and trump cases around classified material is, what did they do once it was discovered . Right. And i think thats what youre going to hear from the white house. His name out. What is it typical Rapid Response style operation for any white house or, or political campaign, i guess depending on your circumstances, would be to try to push back on just things today . Yeah. When this bombshell was dropped me that much was made of robert hur saying that, you know, biden comes across as an elderly man with a core memory that enraged democrats but now democrats are sort of Walking Around with a spring in their step after the president had that performance up on capitol hill, where he sort of dad yelled at the republicans for over an hour they work or get kinda its a term im familiar with, but anyway, was very feisty. In contrast with how robert hur describe the president during their exchange. But the other thing that stands out in her report is her was careful to explain that the biden case does differ from the trump case. He talks about that in the the case as well as somebody that democrats did not seize on because there were so upset about the stuff about his memory. Exactly. He had to do this. He had to address and it doesnt have any legal way why former President Trump . I was being charged, but hes opting not to charge and President Biden and he talks about what are called aggravating factors, right . A very blurry or leeward. All you found some classified documents, then what did you do . With biden . They reported them. Right . They went through the exact Chain Of Command to get those back to where they belonged they consented to searches and then allowed biden to do a voluntary interview. Whereas former President Trump not only did he refuse to give the documents back for months, he allegedly tried to obstruct efforts to get them back. So thats how he describes the difference think theres also differences in the volume of material that were talking about. But he doesnt get as into that in his report, but its something he absolutely had to address and its something thats going to come up again, repeating diddly today. And one has to think that during this hearing what were going to hear from democrats time and again, are these differences between the biden case in the trump case, i mean, theyre going lets spend time laying that out. I think throughout this proceeding kasie hunt, paula reid, stay with us. I want to go back to wolf blitzer. I know wolf. You have a panel of folks to talk to about all of this as well. But this is going to be fascinating to watch. I mean its not often where we see sort of an equal grilling from both sides. I mean, robert hur might say, well, yeah, as paula reid was saying a few moments ago, wolf. Ok, that shows that i did my job right . I think both sides of the aisle would probably disagree with that but wolf also that back to you, this is going to be a very, very lively hearing. Jim, as you know, take a look at the makeup. The chairman of the house judiciary committee, jim jordan. Its going to be very, very lively. Let me start with jamie gangel what do you think the republicans are up to get going into this hearing this morning . No question. Were going to see fireworks today. Were going to hear them talk about his memory. Were going to see go to the point, as jim mentioned, that he was not charged. Why wasnt he charged . Theyll make as much political hayes they can. The democrats are going to try to make their points about how hes different from for trump but i just want to say i think the most fascinating thing coming out today will be this transcript, because as you leave through it, you see joe biden as joe biden. There are digressions. He talks about how we wanted to be an architect he makes noises about car noises about his cars and, you get the sense of who he is at the same time. Theyre there are these Memory Issues, but theyre more nuanced when you read the transcript from a legal perspective, laura, do you expect any new major legal ground to be broken today . Oh, i want to kind of a dramatic reading. I will not be satisfied until i hear this transcript come to life through the eyes of somebody who was there to witness it. I mean, words on a page or one thing, they can be missed construed the tone is always going to be important. Contexts is going to be very, very key here. I want to hear exactly how the president was actually saying things. What was the climate like in the room in terms of how it was being received, did her have immediate misgivings about the nature of his Memory Issues . Were there in fact, Memory Issues or simply turn of phrases that met led him to believe that he was not going to be precise in his testimony or that he couldnt convince a jury as a lawyer, i want to know is this witness going to get me where i need to be . To meet my burden of proof. Are you going to be able to convey that there is actual criminal conduct of foot or are you going to beam as he described as sympathetic, wellmeaning elderly man with a poor memory, who i cannot assign nefarious actual motives to. Thats really important here. And also important. I want to find out about is just how far deep he goes. Its into the idea of the distinction between the conduct of what mike pence, for example, of donald trump, and of course, joe biden, because this is all about what you intended to do here. You cant simply pull the okeydoke on these wellseasoned prosecutors suggest. Oh, wear their National Security issues in these boxes. I had no idea he would have to have clear and convincing evidence to suggest that. I dont have enough to run on to go on and why he said, even if he were not running for office, if you didnt have this doj memo of a sitting president , i still wouldnt have prosecuted them. Thats a very important point, right . Were showing our viewers david live pictures of the hearing room with chairman jim jordan will gavel this in momentarily. Were told and then rob hur, who is now the former Special Counsel, he retired from the Justice Department just a few days ago, is now testifying as a private citizen, but walk us through the political impact potentially of what were about to see. Well, listen, there is much in this testimony today that is going to frame this president ial election that we are in. It deals with some of Donald Trumps legal problems that hes facing, such as his own documents case. Thats gonna be front and center today. Obviously, one of the Big Vulnerabilities For Trump but the Big Vulnerabilities For Biden is the issue of his age, and thats clearly going to be on display today, even though his performance last week in the State Of The Union gave democrats a sigh of relief. That energetic performance here, it shows us this issue is never going away from now through eight months or now. Its something thats going to have to be encountered every day by the Biden Campaign perhaps not always in a spotlight like this, but clearly it will be today. And i would just note laura was saying no doubt the democrats are going to be eager to show the difference between the biden case and the trump case here. In fact, the different conclusions already on display by the prosecutors. One came to all your questions and said, no, this way and this is not going to help me get across the finish line. Im not going to pursue charges. Jack smith, obviously felt he had evidence that required him to pursue charges what i what i think is an important understanding is that donald trump, if you look at a social media this morning, also seems eager to have this difference of the trump case and the biden gets on his plate because he feels its this too tier Justice System. Why does joe biden not have charges . And i do arent being treated differently. Can wants to ignore the fact that the facts are quite different here. But he too is eager to sort of put the contrast on display for very different reasons. Then well see from the democrats today, which i think is intriguing and worth noting as well. Its gonna be, as i said, a very, very exciting, lively hearing to be sure elliot williams, what specifically are you going to be looking for now that weve all read his opening, rob hurs opening draft statement. A few things. Number one, now, taking on the point as to why hes why he resigned from the Justice Department in the first place. Thats thats sort of common. Why justifying now its thats my private citizen, john durham, the last Special Counsel did so for a big reason, it allows him to bring in his own private counsel in a way he could not if he were still justice Justice Department attorney. So he sort of gets to speak as mind here. So a few things jumped out to me from his Opening Statement. Number one, here, he talks about the independence and how they are separate from the Justice Department and not not reporting to the Attorney General. Talked about accuracy and fairness and sort of boring Justice Department and prosecutor buzzwords that everybody says and nobody believes. But the big one he really does take on the memory point almost recognizing that this was going to be a Central Point at the hearing. It is, but one of hundreds of pages of that one point in the hundreds and pages of his report, but he chose to latch on to that, devotes a few paragraphs is saying the president chose to make his memory and issue here here, i think hes just trying to preempt and anticipating that its going to be the source of a lot of questioning and more to the point he seemed to make an issue of the president s memory because that largely was the reason why at least according to the report, they did not choose charge the president because they felt that the president s ability to testify as a witness would have been compromised because he couldnt have they couldnt have established a crime. I think its important for all of us to step back and not fixate on this president s memory issue and focus more on the point that they did not think they had a provable crime, whenever the basis was and whatever the reasons are, when a prosecutor doesnt think they can charge someone with a crime and when they dont bring charges, and i think a lot of this political noise has clouded the way people have approached this report. A great point, especially elliott, because even if they had never interviewed the president of the United States, joe biden if they had corroboration to suggest that he in fact, knew he was committing a crime or was committing a crime. Thats one key distinction between the trump line of cases and the maralago case. And of course this one and that youve got corroboration mean Kaitlan Collins had a great interview yesterday with trump employee number five with an eye and ear witness talking about what was happening, even if they themselves were oblivious to contents they say of those box, boxes. So you had the idea of the absence of that here that would have been part of the consideration of this Special Counsel because when you have somebody who was committed hes a crime. You normally do not bring that person if its a criminal context before The Grand Jury, you get everyone around them to figure out what they have done, build your case, and then its time you hear from them is if they want to take the stand in their own defense another important point on that council is so much of this is about trump versus biden. How do you compare . The conduct of donald trump versus the conduct of john of joe biden, which naturally makes it into a political fight. The better comparison is mike pence, another individual who was found with sensitive documents in his home, but behaved a similar manner to President Biden by number one, identifying that he had the materials in his home number to immediately calling one enforcement in number three, getting them the hell out of his house. Once he realized he had them, this whole idea that this becomes a binary trump versus biden, i think sort of mrs. The point where Everybody Hold your thoughts. We have a lot more to discuss and we will doing there you see the chairman of the house judiciary committee, jim jordan is now in the room. We expect this hearing to begin momentarily. Well of course they have live coverage. Sure. All of you are access especially to hear rob hurs Opening Statement. Ive read it already very, very interesting. Indeed, were watching very closely, just want to point out one thing, rob hurs folks say he resigned as the Special Counsel a few days ago because the investigation has been completed and there was no longer any need for a Special Counsel, and we always and we all know the results of his investigation. Want to go back to my colleague, jim acosta is up on capitol hill. Jim yeah, wolf, thats right. It is worth pointing out to our viewers, robert hur, now a private citizen testifying before the house, and you could see just a few moments ago is wolf was pointing out paula reid and i do want to read just a portion of the her opening that was up two with respect to these classified documents. And if we have, we can show it to our viewers. Says these going to say this in just a few moments. My task was to determine whether the president retained or disclosed National Defense information willfully, meaning knowingly, and with the intent to do something the law for bids i could not make that determination without assessing the president s State Of Mind for that reason, i had to consider the president s memory and overall mentioned so state and howard jury likely would perceive his memory and mental state in a criminal trial paul, i mean, much has been