President Biden fiercely defended his cognitive abilities and memory Thursday in the wake of a special counsel report that scathingly assessed his memory of key elements of the president’s life and political career.
Mr. Biden directly disputed the most eyebrow-raising details of the report, in which Special Counsel Robert Hur called Mr. Biden a “sympathetic, well-meaning, elderly man with a poor memory.” Mr. Hoar used that assessment to determine that it was unlikely that a jury would convict Mr. Biden of handling classified documents.
“I’m a well-meaning, older man who knows what the hell I’m doing. I became president and got this country back on its feet. I don’t need his endorsement,” Biden said. He told reporters in last-minute remarks at the White House.
“My memory is fine. My memory – look what I’ve been doing since I became president… How did that happen? I think I forgot what was going on,” he said. said in a sarcastic tone.
He also firmly pushed back on a reporter’s question about voters’ concerns about his age, claiming it was an assumption made by the media during an unusual and sometimes controversial news conference in the diplomatic reception room.
He also appeared emotional as he criticized parts of Xu’s report that claimed he had forgotten when his son Beau Biden died.
“There’s also a statement that he doesn’t remember when his son died. How on earth could he bring that up? Frankly, when I was asked that question, I said it’s none of their business. “I thought so,” he said.
But as if to emphasize concerns raised by special counsel Biden, in response to the final question about the Israel-Hamas war, the question mistakenly went to “Mexican President Sisi” when referring to the Egyptian president. Mentioned.
Earlier Thursday, Mr. Xu released a 388-page report concluding that Mr. Biden had “intentionally” retained classified documents, but declined to press charges. The report also provided a scathing assessment of the 81-year-old’s memory and ability to recall information.
Mr. Hoar wrote that Mr. Biden’s memory was “significantly limited in both his 2017 taped interview with his ghostwriter and his 2023 interview with our office.”
The special counsel said Biden “does not remember when he was vice president,” at one point forgetting when his term ended and at other times forgetting when his term began. Stated. Hoar said Biden doesn’t remember when his son Beau died within a few years and that his memory is “hazy” when talking about the debate over Afghanistan, which is important to the memoir. It looked like that.”
Following the report’s findings, Republican leaders suggested that Biden was “unfit” to be president. Biden’s descriptions of his memory in the report are likely to become campaign fodder for Republicans, who have already consistently criticized the president, citing his age and mental capacity.
Biden, 81, will be 86 at the end of his second term, but before he announced his re-election campaign in April, questions swirled over whether he should step down. Since then, some Democrats, particularly former President Barack Obama’s top adviser David Axelrod, have questioned whether he should run again.
Asked Thursday night if he should run for a second term, Biden said: “I am the best person in this country to be president of the United States and to finish the job I started.”
The president generally defended his handling of classified documents, declaring, “I haven’t broken any laws.” And he pushed back on criticism that he had “deliberately” kept the documents as “misleading”.
“The bottom line is this issue is closed. I’m going to continue doing what I’ve always been focused on, which is my job as President of the United States,” he said.
Hoar, who was appointed as Maryland’s district attorney by former President Trump in 2017, cited a lack of evidence as a reason for not filing charges, and also addressed how Biden would present himself to a jury. He called him “a sympathetic, well-meaning, older man with a poor memory.”
In addition to handwritten notes he took while in office, authorities collected 90 documents from his estate, more than 50 of which contained classified markings.
Biden said he was fully cooperating with the investigation, noting that he had given five hours of interviews over two days while dealing with the international crisis in Israel days after the Oct. 7 attack. emphasized.
Mr. Biden said he was pleased to see the special counsel distinguishing between its treatment of Mr. Biden’s classified documents and Mr. Trump’s. When the president spoke to House Democrats earlier Thursday, he referred to the same portion of the report, in which he said he was “pleased” that the special counsel had made a “clear difference” between the two cases. “I am doing so,” he said.
“The bottom line is that this issue is resolved and I can continue to do what I’ve always been focused on: my job as President of the United States,” Biden said.
Earlier Thursday, Biden’s legal team slammed the report.
Bob Bauer, Mr. Biden’s personal adviser, said the report “violates established departmental norms and essentially turns the investigation into a ‘trash can.'” The White House also said it disagreed with the “numerous inaccurate and inappropriate comments” in it.
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