Washington, United States – A report from a special counsel investigating President Joe Biden’s possession of classified documents has raised concerns about the 81-year-old Democrat’s age and memory, reports said.
The report, released on Thursday, described Biden’s memory as “hazy,” “fuzzy,” “faulty,” “poor,” and with “significant limitations.” It highlighted instances where Biden couldn’t recall defining milestones in his own life, including the end and beginning of his vice-presidential term and the death of his son Beau.
While the report ruled out charges for mishandling classified documents, it suggested that prosecuting Biden would be challenging due to his perceived frailty: “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.”
The White House responded to the report, disputing the characterizations of Biden’s memory in a letter from the president’s lawyers, published in the special counsel’s report. The letter argued that Biden’s inability to recall details from years ago is not unusual and that the report used “highly prejudicial language.”
Even before the special counsel report the White House was already on the back foot, facing repeated questions at a briefing on Thursday over him confusing various European leaders.
On Sunday Biden told a fundraiser that he had spoken to long-dead French president Francois Mitterrand, instead of current leader Emmanuel Macron, at a G7 summit in Britain in June 2021.
Biden told a similar story about the same G7 meeting on Wednesday — this time saying he had met German Chancellor Helmut Kohl, who died in 2017, instead of Angela Merkel.
Biden, who suffers from a lifelong stammer, also appeared tired while answering questions after a speech on the Mexican border crisis at the White House on Tuesday.
“This happens. It happens to all of us,” White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said.
In a statement, Biden noted that he had undergone five hours of interviews with the special counsel’s team over two days in October, even during an international crisis. The release of the report coincided with recent speeches where Biden made factual errors, including claims of conversations with deceased European leaders.
A poll in August by The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs indicated that 77% of US adults believe Biden is too old to be effective for another four years, with bipartisan agreement on the issue.
Criticism from Republican quarters ensued, with Rep. Tom Emmer stating that the report is “alarming” and suggesting that Biden lacks the cognitive ability to be president. Alex Pfeiffer, a spokesperson for Make America Great Again Inc., a super PAC supporting Donald Trump, asserted that Biden is unfit to lead the nation.
White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre downplayed Biden’s gaffes, calling them common for public figures, including those younger than Biden. Jean-Pierre urged the public to focus on the substance of Biden’s statements regarding concerns about Trump’s possible return to the White House.
Congressional Black Caucus Chairman Steven Horsford dismissed concerns about Biden’s mental acuity, stating that the president is well-suited to be commander-in-chief, and the focus should remain on the issues that matter to the American people.
A string of polls have showed that Biden’s age is one of the biggest concerns for US voters. He would be 82 at the start of a second term, and 86 at the end.
With a long campaign ahead, the issue will only get hotter, said Robert Rowland, professor of political communication at the University of Kansas.
“He’s got to satisfy the people that he has the cognitive skills and the strength,” Rowland told AFP.
Trump-allied Republican House Speaker Mike Johnson blasted: “A man too incapable of being held accountable for mishandling classified information is certainly unfit for the Oval Office.”
Hur made repeated references to Biden’s “diminished faculties,” said he could not remember the dates of his vice presidency under Barack Obama, and could not remember “even within several years” when his son Beau died.
Beau Biden died of brain cancer in 2015.
“A ‘well-meaning, elderly man with a poor memory’ who has access to the nuclear codes…” Republican Congressman Kevin Hern said on social media, quoting from the report.