Prosecutor slams Biden for crime of “bad memory” | International

“A nice, well-meaning old man with a bad memory.” That description of Joe Biden, 81, is the most-quoted phrase in a 388-page report released Thursday by the special counsel in charge of investigating confidential documents from the senator and his time as vice president, retained by the current president of the United States. Improperly in his power. The prosecutor, Robert Hurr, concludes that…

“A nice, well-meaning old man with a bad memory.” That description of Joe Biden, 81, is the most-quoted phrase in a 388-page report released Thursday by the special counsel in charge of investigating confidential documents from the senator and his time as vice president, retained by the current president of the United States. Improperly in his power. The prosecutor, Robert Hurr, concluded there was no basis to charge Biden with any crime. At the same time, however, his allusions to Biden’s age and mental acuity represent the kind of political and electoral censure without a trial or jury that has angered the president and called out Republicans for his incompetence. Democrats don’t even have a viable replacement to take on Trump just nine months before the election.

Following the Hamas terrorist attacks on Israel on October 8 and 9, 2023, as the global crisis erupted, Biden was questioned for five hours by Hurr and his team. The President has been speaking by phone with heads of state, members of his cabinet and members of Congress, and has met frequently with his national security team. Then he started answering questions about events many years ago.

The special prosecutor makes a point of reflecting on that exchange in his report: “He didn’t remember when he was vice president, forgot on the first day of the interview when his term ended (“If it was in 2013, when did I stop being vice president? ?”), and forgetting, the day after the interview, when his term began (“In 2009, am I still vice president?”). “He didn’t remember, many years from now, when his son Beau died.” Biden served as Barack Obama’s vice president from 2009 to 2017. His son Beau died of a brain tumor in 2015.

Hurr was appointed prosecutor by President Donald Trump, although he was tasked with investigating Biden from Biden-appointed Attorney General Merrick Garland. He filled his report with similar mentions. It says Biden’s memory was “significantly limited” that he showed “diminished faculties,” “defective memory,” “lapses and impediments” and mentions “painfully slow” communication, among others.

Biden’s lawyers, who had access to the document before its release, unsuccessfully asked that some of the “inaccurate” references they considered “inflammatory” be removed. “We do not believe the report’s treatment of President Biden’s memory is accurate or appropriate. The report uses highly prejudicial language to describe a common fact among witnesses: a lack of memory about events years ago,” Bob Bauer and Richard Sober said in a letter to prosecutors that appears at the end of the document. Both point out that while it’s understandable and natural that other witnesses in the same case don’t remember events from years ago, Biden is being treated differently “in terms of hurtful and inflammatory.”

Lawyers have been troubled that prosecutors say there is no evidence to convict Biden, but then add as an argument that he could be picked by a jury because of his age and poor memory. “If the evidence does not establish guilt, then it is entirely redundant to discuss the effect on the jury of President Biden’s hypothetical testimony in a trial that will never happen,” he argues.

Biden himself is outraged by the content of the report. The president learned of its release while he was at an event outside Washington meeting with Democratic congressmen, some of whom said the mention of their son’s death particularly hurt him: “How could I forget that?” , they claim he said.

The President decided to show up at the White House that afternoon to show his anger. “There are also references that I don’t remember when my son died. How dare you bring that up? Frankly, when they asked me the question, I thought it was none of their business (…). “I don’t need anyone to remind me when he died,” he said. With a breaking voice, he noted that he carries a rose every day from his son Beau, who died of brain cancer in 2015. In his appearance, Biden tried to show that he is mentally fit: “My memory is good,” he said. “I mean well and I am an old man. And I know what I’m doing. I have been President, I have put this country back on its feet. “I don’t need your recommendation,” he replied to the prosecutor.

Biden and Trump’s mistakes

However, in the last question of the press conference, he made a mistake when referring to “the president of Mexico, El Sisi” in reference to the president of Egypt. After this, in recent weeks he has referred to French President Emmanuel Macron by the name of his predecessor Francois Mitterrand and even mistakenly recalled a conversation with German Chancellor Angela Merkel that it was with Helmut Kohl.

Biden’s closest rival, Donald Trump, has suffered a similar slip in the November 5 presidential election. He said Hungarian Viktor Orbán is “the president of Turkey”. He also claimed that his rival in the Republican primaries, Nikki Haley, was in charge of Capitol security on January 6, 2021, confusing her with Nancy Pelosi. And he warned that Biden’s foreign policy would provoke “World War II.”

But while for Trump, who rode into the primaries on the back of four indictments for 91 felonies, these mistakes don’t take their toll, for Biden, 81, it’s a shot at his waterline. In a poll published last August by the Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research, three out of four Americans thought the president was too old to serve another term. And when asked what words come to mind when they think of him, “old”, “slow”, “clumsy” or “sleepy” predominate, nicknames given to him by his predecessors. Democrats have closed ranks with Biden over a lack of leadership options, but they are also aware of their candidate’s weaknesses.

Prosecutor Hurr’s report is a gift to Republicans, who have called for the president to be disqualified due to disability. Moreover, by not filing charges, but criticizing Biden for his handling of the documents, he left Trump to defend himself against his accusations by denouncing the alleged double standard of justice, ignoring the fact that the report itself highlights enormous differences. Between the two cases.

The president’s lawyers reprimanded the prosecutor in their report, saying his behavior had been “grossly irresponsible,” precisely the words Biden used to quote Trump’s behavior. Citing a painful precedent for Democrats, he charged that “this kind of criticism of an undecided party violates long-standing Justice Department practice and protocol.” In July 2016, FBI Director James Comey lashed out at Hillary Clinton for being “extremely careless” with classified material, noting that there was “evidence of possible violations” of the law, though his final conclusion was that “I would present to any reasonable prosecutor No. Such a case.” A later review stated that the type of rating was inadequate.

Hurr’s “complete irresponsibility” about Biden is reminiscent of Comey’s “grossly careless” about Clinton. In both reports, the investigators are freed, but there is little to celebrate. There is some coincidence that Comey’s report helped open the White House door for Trump. Will the Hur report open them up to their return?

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