Document flap echoes 2016 Clinton emails

WASHINGTON — The release of a harshly critical Justice Department special counsel report on President Joe Biden has triggered instant flashbacks to history-shaping events of 2016. That’s when FBI Director James Comey castigated Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton over her email practices despite recommending against charges.

In this year’s already heated election season, the Justice Department cleared Democrat Biden, too, of criminal wrongdoing but painted a politically damaging picture of his handling of classified information.

Both announcements were derided by Democrats for their potential to unduly shape public perception in an election year — and for the inclusion of what they saw as gratuitous swipes at their candidates. In particular, Hur’s detailed discussion of apparent memory lapses by Biden revived a long-running debate within legal circles about how much derogatory information is appropriate to place in the public realm about individuals like Biden and Clinton who are investigated but not charged.

“I think what we saw was a special counsel who was trying to be as complete as possible and trying to be as transparent as possible with the public about every aspect of the investigation,” Robert Mintz, a former federal prosecutor, said of the Hur report.

“But ultimately,” he added, “some of these observations were more subjective than objective, and I think it’s fair for individuals to question whether or not some of the phrasing that was put in the report was entirely necessary.”