Frustrated White House sends letter to press corps, skewering coverage of Biden’s handling of classified files

The White House is making its frustration over recent press coverage known.

The White House is making its frustration over recent press coverage known. In a letter Tuesday to the White House Correspondents’ Association, Ian Sams, spokesperson for the White House Counsel’s Office, expressed concern over how the news media has covered Special Counsel Robert Hur’s report on President Joe Biden’s handling of classified material. In the letter, which CNN is first to report, Sams conceded that “covering the report is challenging,” given that it is “nearly 400 pages long” and “not straightforward.” Hur’s references to Biden’s mental acuity, he acknowledged, have stolen attention from the crux of the matter, writing that Hur’s “wrong and inappropriate personal comments have distracted from due attention to the substance.” “But those facts stress the importance of careful, patient coverage,” Sams wrote. “Instead, many outlets have reported striking inaccuracies that misrepresent the report’s conclusion about the President, and reporters in the White House Briefing Room have asked questions that include false content or are based on false premises.” The White House, specifically, is frustrated that the press has portrayed Hur’s report as conclusively finding that Biden “willfully” mishandled classified material. The actual report in its entirety is not so clear. In his executive summary, Hur did state the investigation “uncovered evidence that President Biden willfully retained and disclosed classified materials after his vice presidency when he was a private citizen.” But, importantly, Hur then went on to write, “We conclude that the evidence does not establish Mr. Biden’s guilt beyond a reasonable doubt.”