‘Elderly man with a poor memory’: GOP demands Hur tapes after Biden’s debate performance

ATLANTA — Republicans renewed their demands Thursday for the Justice Department to release the secret tape of the special counsel’s interview with President Biden, saying his debate performance was reminiscent of what prosecutors labeled the “elderly man with a poor memory.”

“This is why they don’t want Congress to have that audio tape,” Rep. Byron Donalds, Florida Republican, told reporters after Mr. Biden struggled through the first debate of the 2024 general election, delivering meandering and at times incoherent answers.

His performance spurred panic among many Democrats, who feared Mr. Biden had sealed his defeat at the hands of former President Donald Trump.

It also raised questions about Mr. Biden’s acuity when he’s not on the debate stage.

Republicans said that’s why they want to see the tape of Special Counsel Robert Hur’s interviews last year with Mr. Biden, which came as part of a criminal probe into classified documents Mr. Biden mishandled after leaving the vice presidency.

Mr. Hur said criminal charges shouldn’t be brought against the president because he came across in interviews as a “sympathetic, well-meaning elderly man with a poor memory,” and that’s how he would appear to a jury.

Mr. Hur claimed Mr. Biden couldn’t remember when he was vice president or when his son, Beau Biden, died.

The two-day interview with Mr. Biden was taped but the Justice Department has refused to release the audio, instead providing a transcript.

The House Judiciary and Oversight committees are demanding the audio.

Mr. Donalds, a member of the Oversight Committee, said Thursday that the debate performance punctures that defense, making clear that written words can’t capture everything.

“If it’s the same, then why is the audio sacred but everybody can get a transcript?” the congressman said. “Watching tonight, that is exactly why the American people should hear the Robert Hur audio from his interview with Joe Biden.”

Mr. Biden has asserted executive privilege over the audio recording. The House has voted to hold him in contempt for his refusal but the Justice Department has said it won’t pursue the case against its boss.

GOP leaders have vowed to take other steps to enforce a congressional subpoena for the tapes.

Mr. Garland has argued that sharing the audio would impede the integrity of the criminal investigative process. The Justice Department said future high-profile investigations could face difficulty in winning cooperation from witnesses and targets if the Biden audio is made public.