President Biden angrily pushed back Thursday after special counsel Robert Hur concluded he carelessly handled classified materials and depicted him as a hapless, confused man who didn’t even know when his son died.
Mr. Hur’s 345 page report was a legal exoneration but a political nightmare for the president, raising new questions about Mr. Biden’s cognitive abilities following three appearances recent days in which he claimed to have had recent conversations with long-dead world leaders.
In a hastily called last-minute press conference, Mr. Biden lashed out at the special counsel and reporters.
At times he ditched his folksy “Uncle Joe” personally, displaying a sharp temper in response to questions about his age and mental capacity. The Hur report said that Mr. Biden twice asked interviewers when he was vice president.
“I know what the hell I’m doing. I’m the president and I put this country back on its feet. I don’t need his recommendation,” the president said in a combative press conference.
“My memory is fine. Take a look at what I’ve done since I’ve become president. None of the things I could pass any of the things I got passed. How did that happen? I guess I just forgot what was going on,” he said.
Mr. Biden took particular umbrage at Mr. Hur’s claim that he couldn’t remember “within a few years” when his son Beau died.
“How in the hell dare he raise that,” Mr. Biden said, claiming that he was reacting to the perceived inappropriateness of the question. “Frankly, that’s the question, I thought to myself, that’s none of their damn business,” he said.
At one point Mr. Biden lashed out at a reporter who asked him to address voters’ concerns about his mental acuity by saying, “that is your judgement.”
But during the press conference, Mr. Biden mixed up the presidents of Mexico and Egypt, making the kind of mistake the White House had hoped he could avoid while questions are being raised about his mental abilities.
“I think that … as you know, initially, president of Mexico, Sisi, didn’t want to open the gate. I talked to him,” Mr. Biden said.
Abdel Fattah el-Sisi is the president of Egypt, which borders Gaza.
Mr. Biden also professed his innocence despite Mr. Hur’s assertion that he “willfully” retained classified documents was “misleading and just plain wrong.”
Mr. Hur concluded the president “willfully retained and disclosed classified materials” after he was vice president in the Obama administration, but said it doesn’t establish Mr. Biden’s guilt beyond a reasonable doubt.
He said prosecuting Mr. Biden is unwarranted because of a number of factors, including difficulty proving the president intended to break the law and his inability to recall key facts.
But Mr. Biden maintained his innocence, telling reporters, “I did not break the law. Period.”
• Jeff Mordock can be reached at jmordock@washingtontimes.com.
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