2024 was Donald Trump’s best day ever

(CNN) — Former United States President Donald Trump had the best day of 2024 ever…

► Former President received a political gift. An independent special prosecutor poured kerosene on concerns related to Joe Biden’s age, citing the president’s poor memory and concluding that Biden had tampered with classified documents and that his poor memory made it impossible to convict him. Biden appeared defensive at a hastily called White House news conference. “I have a good memory,” Biden said.

► He is on track to win the Republican nomination for president. Trump on Thursday night in Nevada and the U.S. Victory in the Virgin Islands caucuses, continuing her undefeated streak and rendering Nikki Haley’s campaign meaningless.

► He looks poised to win in the Supreme Court. The judges expressed deep doubts that Colorado could declare him a rebel and exclude him from its ballot.

It’s a combination of one, two and three that should make Trump feel confident about his political future, at least for a moment.

Fueling furor over Biden’s age

Concluding that Biden should not be prosecuted, special counsel Robert Hare, a former federal prosecutor appointed by Trump in Maryland, offered a political indictment of the president’s competence. Hurr described the leader of the free world as a “sympathetic, well-intentioned old man with a bad memory”, which would make it impossible to prosecute him.

The strange assessment in the Justice Department document created an instant frenzy among Biden’s opponents and will last longer in the public consciousness than any other news story.

“Is this a joke?” Senator Thom Tillis of North Carolina wrote on social media, reposting excerpts from Hurr’s report.

“A man so incapable of accountability for his mishandling of classified information is certainly not fit for the Oval Office,” House Republican leaders said in a quickly released joint statement, seizing on Biden’s description of the special counsel in the report.

In a statement, Biden highlighted his cooperation with the special counsel’s investigation and said he was pleased with the outcome, arguing that the matter was now closed.

rarely. Questions about his age already exist and are sure to grow, especially now that Republicans are ready to pounce on any mistakes or verbal missteps, such as when he confused dead European leaders this week.

In scathing comments, Biden chastised Hurr for questioning his son’s memory.

“How dare you bring that up?” Biden said. “To be honest, when they asked me the question I thought, ‘It’s none of your business.’

He pulled out the Bayou rosary he wears and added, “I don’t need anyone to remind me when he died.”

Biden’s memory during interviews with investigators

Hurr said Biden could not remember key details during his meetings with authorities and forgot key dates, including the year his son Beau died and the years he was vice president.

The White House immediately disputed the statements.

“The report uses very damaging language to describe a common phenomenon among witnesses: a lack of memory for events that happened years ago,” White House counsel Richard Sober and Biden’s personal lawyer Bob Bauer said in a statement. A five-page letter to Hur.

Rap. Jamie Raskin, D-Md., tried to dismiss concerns about Biden’s age as “ridiculous cheap shots” and noted that Trump has also had some gaffes in recent weeks.

“I just spent an hour with President Biden and the entire Democratic caucus, where he entertained and entertained everyone,” he told CNN’s Wolf Blitzer Thursday night after attending a retreat for House Democrats in Virginia.

Other elements that Trump can exploit

Trump has tried to draw false parallels between his own confrontation with the government over classified material, which led to one of his federal indictments, and what was found in Biden’s garage and studio in Delaware. Trump supporters will almost certainly use the report’s images showing the box in Biden’s garage, next to his Corvette, along with the infamous images of Trump’s box in an unused Mar a Lago bathroom.

Trump will also point to the decision not to prosecute Biden as evidence of a double standard in the justice system, although the politically charged language used to describe Biden could be seen as evidence that the double standard does not exist. Hurr was appointed special prosecutor by Attorney General Merrick Garland, who serves under the Biden administration.

Biden vs. Trump on handling classified material

People may soon forget that the bottom line of the special counsel’s report really shouldn’t be helpful to Trump. Ultimately, he concluded that Biden should not be prosecuted for the willful mishandling of classified documents, most of which appear to contain Biden’s handwritten notes in notebooks. Hurr was at pains to distinguish between the classified material mishandled by Biden and the case Trump will prosecute in federal court in Florida as soon as this summer.

Biden notified the National Archives when classified material was found; Trump fought the National Archives for more than a year before the FBI raided Mar a Lago.

Biden voluntarily turned over the material and cooperated with the investigation; Trump is accused of conspiring with his staff to obstruct the search for missing classified documents.

The classified material described in Hur’s report relates to policy in Afghanistan while Biden was vice president and includes a handwritten memo advising then-President Barack Obama not to send more troops to Afghanistan. Obama ultimately ignored the advice. Biden’s decision as president to withdraw all US troops from Afghanistan, allowing the Taliban to retake that country in 2021, is widely seen as a stain on his foreign policy record.

This Department of Justice photo shows a box of documents, including some classified material, from President Joe Biden’s garage in Delaware on Dec. 21, 2022. (Credit: Department of Justice)

The vast amount of classified data held by Trump was not detailed in the criminal indictment against Trump, but CNN reported that it contained detailed military strike plans.

More good news for Trump

After Thursday’s wins in Nevada and the US Virgin Islands, Trump is undefeated and in complete control of the primary race.

Trump’s victory in Nevada was never in doubt in a state where party leaders shaped delegate races to their advantage. Trump’s main rival, Haley, was also not an option for Thursday’s caucus attendees. The former South Carolina governor chose to participate in the state primary held earlier this week, where Trump was not on the ballot. Haley finished second to “none of these candidates,” an embarrassment that confirmed her declining relevance in the race.

All Republican state representatives will endorse Trump.

Haley has said she will stay in the race until Super Tuesday in early March, an embarrassment in Nevada and polls showing her trailing in her home state of South Carolina, where the next Republican primary will be held on February 24th.

Good signs for Trump in Supreme Court case

After Thursday’s oral arguments his victory at the Supreme Court may not be as certain as his victory in the Nevada caucuses, Trump should be happy with the way things are looking.

Even liberal justices were skeptical Thursday that Colorado, after hearing evidence last year, should be able to declare the former president a rebel and disqualify him from the state ballot.

The question of whether Trump actually participated in the coup was rarely raised in the arguments, a sign to many court watchers that the justices may shun Trump’s behavior on Jan. 6, 2021, in deciding to uphold his competency. Presidential Voting.

Still, big Trump-related questions loom at the Supreme Court, such as whether Trump enjoys absolute immunity from potential prosecution. His lawyers had until Monday asked the Supreme Court to review a Washington appeals court’s ruling last week that, no, Trump does not have immunity and can be prosecuted for trying to overturn the 2020 presidential election.

Trump attorney Jonathan Mitchell speaks before the Supreme Court on February 8. (Credit: Bill Hennessy)

Trump’s federal trial for election interference must begin before Super Tuesday, the biggest day on the primary calendar, when voters in Colorado and other states could essentially seal Trump’s Republican nomination.

It will be a very bad day for Trump if, as some judicial observers suspect, the court refuses to consider the issue and allows his trial to continue in Washington. But if they do address the issue, Trump may have another reason to celebrate.