The transcript of the interview between President Joe Biden and former Department of Justice (DOJ) Special Counsel Robert Hur has revealed multiple mental lapses on the part of the chief executive.
Axios managed to obtain and review a copy of the transcript of the said interview. The five-hour interview conducted on Oct. 8 and 9 saw Biden repeatedly mix up dates, countries and the timeline of significant events. These include the year his eldest son Beau died and the year former President Donald Trump was elected.
According to the transcript, Biden repeatedly asked for help in remembering certain important dates, prompting his lawyers to step in. He apparently forgot that he was vice president in 2009 and 2013 – his first and second terms under former President Barack Obama. Biden also forgot that Trump, his successor, was elected in November 2016 and not November of the following year.
The president also struggled to find the words for "fax machine" in two instances on the same day, only remembering when White House Counsel Ed Siskel brought up the proper term. He also forgot the year his eldest son Beau died, only remembering that it was in 2015 when White House Deputy Counsel Rachel Cotton came to his aid. (Related: POTUS says son Beau died in Iraq. He actually died at Walter Reed Hospital in Bethesda, Md.)
The release of the transcript followed Hur's resignation from the DOJ on March 11. Hur appeared before lawmakers at the House of Representatives the following day at the behest of Rep. Jim Jordan (R-OH), chairman of the House Judiciary Committee (HJC).
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"Instead of appearing as a DOJ employee who is bound by the ethical guidelines which govern the behavior of federal prosecutors, he [would] appear as a private citizen with no constraints on his testimony," the Independent pointed out.
Meanwhile, Axios pointed out that the transcript of the October 2023 interview supports Hur's report released in February of this year. The report, which centered on the president's handling of classified documents after his vice presidential term, made mention of Biden's "multiple mental lapses."
The White House rebuked the former DOJ special counsel's report, calling it "gratuitous" and "motivated by partisanship." But in defense of his report, Hur emphasized the need to mention Biden's mental lapses as it would explain why he didn't charge the 81-year-old president with any crimes in relation to his handling of classified documents.
Hur: "Forgetful" Biden read ALOUD supposedly CLASSIFIED documents
The former DOJ special counsel pushed back at criticisms from both sides of the fence during his March 12 testimony. On the one hand, Republicans blasted Hur for his refusal to charge Biden. On the other hand, Democrats took offense at Hur's report that apparently mused on the president's age and his memory.
"I knew that for my position to be credible, I could not simply announce that there were no charges [to be filed against Biden]," he told lawmakers. "I needed to explain why. I needed to show my work."
Hur also disclosed that the president allegedly read aloud supposedly classified documents in digital form to Mark Zwonitzer, the ghostwriter for Biden's memoir "Promise Me, Dad." A recorded conversation captured this exchange, which also involved Biden admitting to having "just found all the classified stuff" downstairs.
Even worse, the former prosecutor told the HJC that Zwonitzer tried to hide evidence of these documents after U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland named him as special counsel in January 2023. According to Hur, the ghostwriter "slid those files into the recycle bin on his computer" in what Jordan dubbed as an attempt "to destroy the evidence."
Both Hur's report and subsequent face-to-face testimony before Congress attested to Biden's "cavalier attitude to classified documents," according to the Daily Mail. The tabloid continued: "His habit of reading sensitive files to a ghostwriter posed a national security risk."
Watch former DOJ Special Counsel Robert Hur denies Rep. Pramila Jayapal's (D-WA) claim that he exonerated Biden in his report below.
This video is from the NewsClips channel on Brighteon.com.
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