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WASHINGTON – President Joe Biden will face no criminal charges over his handling of classified documents. But he won’t escape unscathed from Special Counsel Robert Hur’s investigation.
Mr. Xu’s report Thursday describes Mr. Biden as an elderly man with “declining capacities,” including memory loss, and he provides new evidence that the 81-year-old president is unfit to serve a second term. given to the critics.
The details of the Justice Department special counsel’s report are so politically problematic for Biden that he gave a previously unannounced prime-time address about mental health. He denied the concerns and insisted his memory was fine.
“How on earth could he say something like that?” Biden called out claims that he doesn’t remember “even within a few years” of his son Beau Biden’s death from a brain tumor. he said, visibly angry.
“When he died, no one needed to be reminded,” Biden said through gritted teeth.
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Biden’s age was already a concern for many Americans heading into the 2024 election, but the special counsel’s report puts perhaps his biggest liability at the center of the campaign. . Ho’s report also said that during the interview, Biden did not remember when his term as vice president began or ended.
“His memory appeared to be hazy when talking about the Afghanistan controversy, which was once very important to him,” the report said. “Among other things, Mr. Biden mistakenly said he had a ‘difference of opinion’ with General Carl Eikenberry, when in fact Mr. Ikenberry was quoted favorably by Mr. Biden in his Thanksgiving memo to President Obama.” He was an ally.”
White House Counsel criticizes inclusion of memory observation
Republicans immediately seized on the report. House Speaker Mike Johnson said in a joint statement with other House Republican leaders: “Certainly someone who is so incompetent to hold people accountable for their mishandling of classified information is not fit for the Oval Office.” Stated.
Other critics, including Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.) and Sen. Rick Scott (R-Fla.), called for Biden to be removed from office via the 25th Amendment.
Biden’s aides have sought to downplay the president’s routine gaffes, including at a news conference shortly before the release of the special counsel’s report. The president has a habit of making self-deprecating jokes about his age on the campaign trail as a way to comfortably take his own stand on the issue.
But the special counsel’s report revealed in public documents the problematic nature of Biden’s forgetfulness in an election year. Biden’s memory was already under scrutiny after he mistakenly referred to deceased foreign leaders three times this week when talking about his successor.
Hoar’s report said: “We also believe that Mr. Biden is likely to face a jury at trial who will be sympathetic, well-intentioned, and have a good memory, just as they did during the interview with Mr. Biden.” “It will show a bad image of an elderly person.”
In a letter to the special counsel, Biden’s lawyers Richard Sauber and Bob Bauer strongly criticized Herr’s inclusion of the amnesia allegation, calling it “neither accurate nor appropriate.”
“The report uses highly prejudicial language that describes an event that is common among witnesses: an inability to remember events that occurred many years ago,” their letter said.
Biden’s allies have pounced on the memory loss claim as politically motivated and inappropriate. Mr. Hoar served as chief deputy attorney general at the Justice Department at the beginning of former President Donald Trump’s term. President Trump subsequently appointed him U.S. Attorney for the District of Maryland.
Jim Messina, former President Barack Obama’s campaign manager, said on social media that Ho is “no dummy” and encouraged Democrats not to take the report and “take the bait.”
“Harr, a lifelong Republican and a leading figure in Washington, D.C., has never filed a lawsuit against Biden, but he is concerned about how his swipes could damage Biden politically. “I knew exactly what was going on,” he said.
Special prosecutor’s report issued amid foreign leadership mix-up
Biden first mentioned the report Thursday afternoon when he addressed House Democrats at a rally in Leesburg, Virginia.
He noted that the report came from “Republican lawyers” and insisted it cleared him of any wrongdoing, and that Trump’s case for failing to cooperate with the Justice Department and indicting him on charges cleared him of any wrongdoing. and contrasted the differences between his lawsuits.
Just before the report was released, White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre downplayed Biden’s memory loss in a briefing. She argued that everyone gets confused sometimes and refuted suggestions that the aging president was mentally deteriorating.
She came prepared with examples of Republicans who forgot or mixed up names to get her point across.
“A lot of people, a lot of elected officials, a lot of people, sometimes slip up,” Jean-Pierre said.
She was responding to a question about Mr. Biden confusing foreign leaders with stories he regularly tells at fundraisers.
For the first time, Biden attended a campaign event in Las Vegas. He confused current French President Emmanuel Macron with late former French leader Francois Mitterrand. Biden also said before correcting himself that Mitterrand was from Germany.
“And I sat down and said, ‘America is back.’ And Mitterrand, who was from Germany, from France, looked at me and said,” Biden said.
At a campaign fundraising rally on Wednesday, he twice confused the late German Chancellor Helmut Kohl with former German Chancellor Angela Merkel, who stepped down in 2021, and told the story again.
To make matters worse, an irate Biden mistakenly referred to Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sissi as the Mexican president as he fielded questions from reporters at a last-minute press conference Thursday night. is. Biden answered questions about the war between Israel and Hamas and the active hostage negotiations involving the United States.
“As you know, Mexican President El Sisi initially did not want to open the gates to allow humanitarian supplies to come in. I talked to him and convinced him to open the gates,” Biden said. Ta.
Biden supporters responded to the special counsel’s report by pointing out President Trump’s habitual gaffes. Last month, he confused rival Republican candidate Nikki Haley with former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi.
He inaccurately claimed that Haley, 52, was in charge of security at the U.S. Capitol during the Jan. 6, 2021, riot. He meant a jab at Pelosi.
Haley has argued on the campaign trail that Biden and Trump, both 77, are too old for the job and that America needs younger leaders. Haley has been pushing for mental competency tests for politicians over 75. Haley pointed to Trump’s gaffe about Pelosi and the Biden special counsel report to emphasize his position.
“Joe Biden can’t remember major events in his life, like when he was vice president or when his son died,” Haley said Thursday. “That’s sad, but it’s even sadder when you have someone in the White House who is mentally incapable of doing the most important job in the world.”
Francesca Chambers and Joey Garrison cover the White House for USA TODAY.
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