by Sharon Rondeau
(Mar. 13, 2024) — In a post on TruthSocial Tuesday evening, 45th President and now presumptive 2024 Republican presidential nominee Donald J. Trump wrote that artificial intelligence (AI) was utilized in “their videos of me,” almost certainly referencing the House Judiciary Committee’s hearing Tuesday in which former Special Counsel Robert Hur testified as to the findings of his report on Joe Biden’s confiscation of classified government documents over many years.
On Tuesday both Biden and Trump secured enough delegates in primaries and caucuses held in Georgia, Washington state, Mississippi, the Northern Mariana Islands primaries and Hawaii to receive the respective Democrat and Republican nominations for the November 5 election in what many characterize as a “rematch” of 2020.
As the hearing unfolded, this writer noted that a video montage aired by Rep. Eric Swalwell (D-CA14) appearing to depict Trump as possessing a poor memory, using incorrect terms and titles and slurring his words seemed to be “doctored.”
During his allotted time to ask questions, Swalwell obtained affirmation from Hur that he used the term “photographic understanding and recall of the House”* with Biden to describe Biden’s recollection, but that the term does not appear in his report.
*The Huffington Post capitalized “house,” apparently to signify the U.S. House of Representatives, but the conversation actually centered on Hur’s questioning (p. 47) of Biden about items he kept in his personal home.
However, in his report, Hur wrote that Biden appeared as “a sympathetic, well-meaning, elderly man with a poor memory” (p. 219) who would likely not be convicted at trial, which drew the ire of many Democrat congressmen.
Many Republicans believe Trump’s criminal prosecution on his alleged mishandling of classified documents by Special Counsel Jack Smith demonstrates a double standard on the part of the Justice Department and have stressed that as a vice president and former U.S. senator, Biden had no authority to declassify documents as a president does.
A second video montage played by Rep. Jerrold Nadler (D-NY12) depicted Trump in various situations appearing to misidentify world leaders and failing to recall prescient details about his public and personal life.
The remarks Trump purportedly made in both videos did not make the news cycle at the respective times they were allegedly uttered. In its reporting today, the media does not appear curious as to how they surfaced at the hearing for the first time.
After the video concluded, Nadler said, “That is a man who is incapable of avoiding criminal liability, a man who is wholly unfit for office, and a man who at the very least ought to think twice before accusing others of cognitive decline.”
Trump’s post Tuesday evening begins with the imprecise statement, “The Hur Report was revealed today!” when he apparently meant that the transcripts from Biden’s interviews with Hur last fall were made public by the Justice Department Tuesday morning. Hur’s report was released February 8, according to Hur’s testimony as well as news reports that day.
The post continues, “A disaster for Biden, a two tiered standard of justice. Artificial Intelligence was used by them against me in their videos of me. Can’t do that Joe!”