Watch: Rep. Donalds Clashes With NBC Host Kristen Welker Over Hur Report’s Conclusion: ‘No, No, No, No, No’

Rep. Byron Donalds (R-FL) clashed with NBC host Kristen Welker on Sunday over special counsel Robert Hur’s report investigating President Biden’s handling of classified documents and the conclusion that he came to. 

Donalds appeared on “Meet the Press” to discuss his support of former President Donald Trump in the upcoming general election and ongoing primary. During the interview, Welker asked the congressman about a claim from Biden campaign co-chair Cedric Richmond calling a recent comment from Trump regarding support from black Americans over his criminal charges “plain racist.”

Donalds stated that the charges against the former president are politically motivated and gave context to Trump’s comments, but Welker continued to press the congressman on his views. 

“Again, there’s no evidence that the indictments against [Trump] are politicized but, sticking to this question, were you offended, at all, by his comments, Congressman?” Welker asked.

Donalds then called out the differences in the circumstances of Biden and Trump’s situations, arguing that while Biden had “no rights” to any of the documents noted in Hur’s investigation, which he had acquired prior to his time as president, he was not charged with any mishandling of classified documents, which former President Trump was. Donalds’ stance, however, moved Welker to attempt to correct Donalds, resulting in a clash between the two.

“No, I wasn’t because I understood what the president was talking about and, like I’ve said now, for the third time, he talked about all the reasons why minority voters want to support him. And Kristen, let me push back a little bit, you have to acknowledge the fact that now that the Robert Hur report has come out about Joe Biden’s misuse of classified information, which is the Espionage Act. He had no rights to any of those documents when he was a senator or vice president, yet there are no charges against President Biden. But President Trump is under prosecution? Come on now, we know that doesn’t make sense at all,” Donalds stated.

“Hold on, I have to hit the pause button for one minute, Congressman, because the Hur report was very clear that there was not enough evidence to bring charges against President Biden and that ultimately there was not —,” Welker stated before Donalds cut in.

“Kristen, I got to push back on you. That is not — no, no, no, no, no,” Donalds interjected.

“That is what the Hur report said. Congressman, that is exactly what the Hur report said. Yes, it is, it says there wasn’t enough evidence to bring charges —” Welker doubled down.

“The Espionage Act is clear. You cannot possess those documents as a senator or a vice president. You have no right to those documents as a senator or a vice president. They must remain in a secure facility. Joe Biden took them from a SCIF, that’s a violation of the Espionage Act, period,” Donalds stated.

“Alright, bottom line, though: Hur himself said there wasn’t enough evidence to bring charges,” Welker stated before moving on to the next question.

Hur’s report, released on Feb. 8, labeled Biden as an “elderly man with a poor memory,” and though Hur declined to press charges against Biden, his report noted that this was not because of a lack of wrongdoing, but rather because it would be “difficult to convince a jury” of a serious felony which would require a “mental state of willfulness.”

“We have also considered that, at trial, Mr. Biden would likely present himself to a jury, as he did during our interview of him, as a sympathetic, well-meaning, elderly man with a poor memory,” the report stated. “Based on our direct interactions with and observations of him, he is someone for whom many jurors will want to identify reasonable doubt. It would be difficult to convince a jury that they should convict him — by then a former president well into his eighties — of a serious felony that requires a mental state of willfulness.”

Immediately after the report was released, Biden held a press conference attempting to defend his mental state, but he failed to remember the parish his rosary in memory of his late son Beau was from. He also confused multiple world leaders.

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