President Biden has had a tough week, compounding the problem by making several simultaneous blunders, resulting in a damaging special counsel report that calls into question his mental acuity.
Biden has faced questions from critics about his cognitive abilities for some time, but the past few days have exacerbated those concerns perhaps more than any other week in his presidency.
Special Counsel Robert Hur’s report on Biden’s mishandling of classified documents, released Thursday, recommended no criminal charges against the president. However, the current investigation has uncovered “evidence that Mr. Biden intentionally kept and disclosed classified materials while he was a private citizen after becoming vice president.”
The report also raised concerns about Biden’s memory, troubling him and the White House. It was during an interview with investigators that the president explained how he had trouble remembering important details of his life, such as when he served as vice president and when his son Beau died. Did.
French President Biden’s gaffe is just the latest example of his confusion about long-dead people
The special counsel’s report raised concerns about President Biden’s mental acuity. (AP Photo/Susan Walsh)
“In interviews with our office, Mr. Biden’s memory was even worse,” the report said. “He doesn’t remember when he was vice president, and he forgets the first day of the interview at the end of his term (“If it was 2013, when did you stop being vice president?”) and the interview I forgot about it on the second day. when his term began (“2009, Will I Still be Vice President?”).
“He didn’t remember when his son Beau died, even years later.” “And his memory was hazy when describing the Afghanistan controversy, which was once so important to him, especially with General Carl Eikenberry, even though General Eikenberry was actually an ally. “I mistakenly said that there was a ‘huge difference’ between my views and his,” Biden quoted the approving words in his Thanksgiving memo to President Obama. ”
Investigators characterized Biden as a “well-intentioned elderly man with a poor memory,” and feared that his lawyers would use his “limitations” to defend him if the case ultimately went to trial.
“If the government had to prove that Biden knew he was in possession of classified Afghan documents after becoming vice president and knowingly chose to preserve those documents in violation of the law, then I “We expect his lawyers to emphasize at trial that his recollection has these limitations,” the report said.
Biden says he doesn’t remember his son Beau’s death when he was vice president during interviews with special counsel.
Biden has had a week filled with gaffes beyond the special counsel’s report. (AP Photo/Patrick Semanski, File)
In addition to reports expressing concerns about Biden’s “fuzzy” memory, Biden’s week has been filled with gaffes that exacerbate the problem. One occurred when he defended his own memory following a report in which he referred to Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sissi as the “President of Mexico.”
Earlier in the day, Biden confused “red states and blue states” with “red states and green states” while speaking at the House Democratic Caucus Issues Conference.
“When I promoted these programs, I said I was going to be a president for everyone where we live, whether it’s red states or green states,” Biden said.
Earlier on Wednesday, Biden spoke at a fundraising event in New York and claimed to have spoken to late German Chancellor Helmut Kohl in 2021, recalling past conversations.
Mr. Biden said Mr. Cole asked him what he would say if he learned that 1,000 people stormed the British parliament to try to stop the next prime minister from taking office.
However, Mr. Cole did not attend the annual general meeting because he had been dead for four years by the time the annual general meeting was held. Instead, former German Chancellor Angela Merkel attended the rally.
Special counsel calls Biden a “sympathetic, well-meaning, elderly man with a poor memory” and declines indictment
Biden has a history of blunders that have resulted in deaths. (Kevin Dietsch/Getty Images)
And on Sunday, Biden told a crowd in Las Vegas that he had met French President François Mitterrand, 28 years after his death. He made the mistake shortly before entering the White House when he rehashed a story about his huddle with French President Emmanuel Macron at the G7 meeting.
“I sat down and said, ‘America is back,'” Biden told attendees. “And Mitterrand from Germany, Mitterrand from France, looked at me and said…”
Biden then gathered his thoughts and completed the sentence, “So how long will you be back?”
Meanwhile, Mitterrand served as President of France from 1981 to 1995, but died in 1996.
Biden’s gaffes piled up faster than usual this week. However, he does have a history of them relating to those who died, from mentioning conversations with people who died before he was born to asking where they were during events.
Biden previously said he spoke to the man who “invented” insulin. Both discoverers died before he was born. (AP Photo/Andrew Harnik)
In fall 2022, Biden told a group of supporters that he spoke to the man who “invented” insulin. Insulin was co-discovered by Frederick Banting and John Macleod. Bunting he died in 1941 and MacLeod he died in 1935. Biden was born in 1942.
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In September 2022, Biden sought out the late Indiana Republican Rep. Jackie Walorski in the crowd while speaking at an event. She died in a car accident last month.
And on the campaign trail in 2019, he told a group of donors that former British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher, who died six years ago, was concerned about the United States under President Donald Trump’s leadership.
The White House did not respond to Fox News Digital’s request for comment.
Fox News Digital’s Elizabeth Pritchett and Cameron Cawthorne contributed to this report.
