If he wanted to take the temperature down here,
Paul, I have to say this opening statement,
I'm not sure it's going to do that.
Yeah. And you know what?
In speaking to sources close to him over the past
year covering this investigation,
I'm not sure he cares if he,
quote, takes the temperature down here.
He views himself as not being partisan,
as being a special counsel who is independent.
And he knows that folks on both sides of the
aisle are unhappy with him.
John actually just got off the phone with a source
close to her who talked to me a little bit
about how he's preparing for the big day.
And as you noted, he has hired a lawyer who
has worked out with former President Trump and his allies.
And I want to note,
though, before he left the Justice Department last week.
Office of Legislative Affairs at the Justice Department actually helped
him prepare for today.
They did moot hearing. So these are practice arguments.
That is significant because it's just another example of how
her has received a support from the Biden Justice Department.
Now once he left the Justice Department last week,
he has continued to practice with his attorney and others
for today's hearing,
anticipating questions that he's going to get on both sides.
They know that Republicans are probably going to hammer him
on why he opted not to charge Biden.
They will probably make some comparisons to the classified a
document prosecution of former President Trump her is going to
be ready for that.
He also knows the Democrats are going to amplify these
criticisms from the White House about comments he made about
Biden's memory.
But as we see in his opening statement,
he defends that saying, quote,
he needed to show his work.
Now we also anticipate, according to the source,
who will emphasize, that he did not find President Biden
quote innocent.
It's just that he did not think that he could
win.
At trial now, as you just heard Evan Perez talking
about some of this this new information coming out about
the interview from Biden,
I asked the source about the timing for this new
information,
and they said, look, it's clear the White House is
concerned that under questioning her could potentially release new,
possibly damaging additional details about the president.
They're trying to get out in front of that.
But the source again noted that the tape of that
interview has not been released.
So this is notable. And I also want to emphasize,
as the source did, that even though the White House
is quite upset with her,
a lot of Democrats are It was the attorney general,
the Biden hand-picked Attorney General,
Merrick Garland who oversaw this investigation And clearly.
Did not object. The contents of this report.