The White House attacked the special counsel’s comments, calling them ‘gratuitous’ and ’politically motivated.’
President Joe Biden has probably had one of the most difficult weeks of his political life, with his mental acuity called into question by a special counsel report detailing instances of memory lapses.
Special counsel Robert Hur’s report, issued on Feb. 8, found evidence that President Biden “willfully retained” and shared highly classified information after his vice presidency when he was a private citizen but determined that evidence didn’t support charging the president.
In his 388-page report to Attorney General Merrick Garland, Mr. Hur also included a highly critical evaluation of the 81-year-old president’s mental fitness, describing him as “a sympathetic, well-meaning, elderly man with a poor memory.”
The report referred to the president’s memory as “hazy,” “significantly limited,” “faulty,” and “poor.”
The White House attacked the report’s findings about the president’s memory, calling them “gratuitous” and “politically motivated.”
During an interview with the special counsel’s office, President Biden displayed poor memory, as he couldn’t recall the start or end of his vice presidency, according to the report.
President Biden also struggled to recall significant events, such as the timing of his son Beau’s death and details about important matters such as the Afghanistan debate, according to the report.
Vice President Kamala Harris blasted the special counsel as being “wrong on the facts” in response to a reporter’s question.
“Listen, I have been privileged and proud to serve as vice president of the United States with Joe Biden as president of the United States. And what I saw of that report last night, I believe, as a former prosecutor, the comments that were made by that prosecutor: gratuitous, inaccurate, and inappropriate,” she said on Feb. 9.
“So the way that the President’s demeanor in that report was characterized could not be more wrong on the facts and, clearly, politically motivated.”
Ian Sams, a spokesperson for the White House counsel’s office, declined to describe Mr. Hur’s motivation directly but claimed that the special counsel’s views might have been influenced by political pressure from Republicans.
By Emel Akan
