President Joe Biden addressed the nation late Thursday to respond to news that the special counsel tasked with investigating his handling of classified documents had chosen not to charge him, but also questioned his mental capacity.
The blockbuster special counsel report, while clearing Biden, sparked questions about Biden’s mental fitness when it called him an “elderly man with a poor memory.” Biden is 81 years old.
“The special counsel released his findings today about their look into my handling of classified documents,” Biden said. “I was pleased to see he reached the firm conclusion that no charges should be brought against me in this case. This was an exhaustive investigation going back more than 40 years, even into the 1970’s when I was still a United States Senator.”
During the remarks, Biden blamed his staff for the handling of classified documents and attempted to dispel questions about his memory.
As The Center Square previously reported, Special Counsel Robert Hur said Thursday that he found evidence that Biden “willfully retained and disclosed classified materials after his vice presidency when he was a private citizen” but said the evidence “does not establish Mr. Biden’s guilt beyond a reasonable doubt.”
The nearly 400-page report said Biden did not commit a crime but that he was careless with the documents.
“We conclude that no criminal charges are warranted in this matter,” the report said. “We would reach the same conclusion even if Department of Justice policy did not foreclose criminal charges against a sitting president.”
Former President Donald Trump faces charges for the same allegations of mishandling classified documents, one of his multiple indictments across several states. Former Vice President Mike Pence was also not charged though he did hold on to classified documents and then return them after leaving office.
Biden came under investigation for the same allegations after federal authorities found classified documents stored at his home in Delaware as well as one of his offices in Washington, D.C.
“I was especially pleased to the Special Counsel make clear the stark distinction and difference between this case and Mr. Trump’s case,” Biden continued.
Biden argued he more readily handed over any documents and cooperated with federal authorities while Trump did not. Biden said he cooperated completely with the investigation and gave a five-hour interview in person with the special counsel.
Biden also argued the headlines about his willful retention of documents are misleading.
The special counsel made note of Biden’s poor memory in the report, saying the president could not remember key events such as the details of when he was vice president or when his son died.
Biden made a point to address those concerns late Thursday.
“How in the hell dare he raise that,” Biden said. “Frankly, when I was asked the question I thought to myself it wasn’t any of their damn business. Let me tell you something.
“I don’t need anyone to remind me when he passed away,” Biden said, arguing that he was managing the Israel-Hamas crisis while dealing with the special counsel’s interview.
“The bottom line is the matter is now closed,” Biden said.
Reporters immediately questioned Biden about his memory Thursday evening after his remarks.
“My memory is fine,” Biden responded, before pointing to his accomplishments since taking office.
Notably, while answering a question from a reporter about the Israel-Gaza conflict, Biden appeared to call Egyptian President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi the president of Mexico.
Biden’s political opponents online immediately responded to that blunder in what is the first of likely months of ongoing attacks on his mental fitness.
“Joe Biden is unfit for the office of the presidency,” U.S. Rep. Elise Stefanik, R-N.Y., wrote on X, formerly known as Twitter, late Thursday. “President el Sisi is the President of Egypt not Mexico.”
When asked why he should be the Democrat to take on Republican frontrunner Donald Trump, Biden said he is the most qualified.
“I did not break the law,” Biden said to reporters. “Period.”
The DOJ report lays out Biden’s mishandling of classified documents but said ultimately mitigating factors prevented a formal legal charge.
“Our investigation uncovered evidence that President Biden willfully retained and disclosed classified materials after his vice presidency when he was a private citizen,” Hur said. “These materials included (1) marked classified documents about military and foreign policy in Afghanistan, and (2) notebooks containing Mr. Biden’s handwritten entries about issues of national security and foreign policy implicating sensitive intelligence sources and methods. FBI agents recovered these materials from the garage, offices, and basement den in Mr. Biden’s Wilmington, Delaware home.”
One of those mitigating factors, according to the special counsel report, was that jurors would be sympathetic to Biden’s poor memory.
“In his interview with our office, Mr. Biden’s memory was worse,” the report said. “He did not remember when he was vice president, forgetting on the first day of the interview when his term ended (‘if it was 2013 – when did I stop being Vice President?’), and forgetting on the second day of the interview when his term began (‘in 2009, am I still Vice President?’)”
Casey Harper
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Reposted with permission
