The prosecutor hits Biden for the crime of “bad memory”

“A nice, well-meaning old man with a bad memory.” That description of Joe Biden, 81, is the most cited phrase in the 388-page report published this Thursday by the special prosecutor in charge of investigating the confidential documents from his time as senator and vice president that the current president of the United States retained in his power unduly. The prosecutor, Rober Hur, concludes that there is no basis to charge Biden with any crime. At the same time, however, his allusions to Biden's age and his mental acuity amount to a kind of political and electoral condemnation without trial or jury that has enraged the president and led Republicans to call for his incapacitation. . The Democrats also do not have a viable replacement to confront Trump just nine months before the elections.

Just after the Hamas terrorist attack on Israel on October 8 and 9, 2023, as a global crisis unfolded, Biden underwent five hours of interrogation by Hur and his team. The president had been speaking by phone with heads of state, members of his Cabinet and his congressmen and had met repeatedly with his national security team. Then he began answering questions about events from many years ago.

The special prosecutor makes a point of reflecting that exchange in his report: “He did not remember when he was vice president, forgetting 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 On the second day of the interview, when did his term begin (“in 2009, am I still vice president?”). He did not remember, even several years from now, when his son Beau died.” Biden was Barack Obama's vice president from 2009 to 2017. His son Beau died of a brain tumor in 2015.

Hur was appointed prosecutor by President Donald Trump, although he was tasked with investigating Biden from Attorney General Merrick Garland, appointed by Biden. He has filled his report with mentions similar to that. He says Biden's memory was “significantly limited,” that he showed “diminished faculties,” “defective memory,” “lapses and glitches,” and refers to “painfully slow” conversations, among others.

Biden's lawyers, who had access to the document before its release, unsuccessfully asked that some of those “gratuitous” mentions that 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 damaging language to describe a common occurrence among witnesses: a lack of memory about events from years ago,” say Bob Bauer and Richard Sauber in a letter to the prosecutor that appears at the end of the document. Both point out that while it is taken as understandable and natural that other witnesses in this same case do not remember events from years ago, Biden is treated differently “in damaging and inflammatory terms.”

The lawyers have been bothered that the prosecutor says that there is no evidence to incriminate Biden, but then adds as an argument that with his age and poor memory he could be liked by the jury. “If the evidence does not establish guilt, then discussing the impact on the jury of President Biden's hypothetical testimony in a trial that will never take place is totally superfluous,” they argue.

Biden himself has been outraged by the content of the report. The president learned of its publication when he was at an event on the outskirts of Washington meeting with Democratic congressmen, some of whom have said that the mention of his son's death especially hurt them: “How the hell am I going to forget that?” , they claim he said.

The president decided to appear that same afternoon at the White House to show his anger. “There are even references that I don't remember when my son died. How the hell dare you bring that up? Frankly, when they asked me the question, I thought it was none of his damn business (…). “I don’t need anyone to remind me when he died,” he said. With a broken voice, he pointed out that he carries a rosary every day from his son Beau, who died in 2015 from brain cancer. At his appearance, Biden tried to demonstrate that he is mentally fit: “My memory is fine,” he said. “I am well-intentioned and I am an older man. And I know what the hell I'm doing. I have been president, I put this country back on its feet. “I don't need your recommendation,” he replied to the prosecutor.

The mistakes of Biden and Trump

However, in the last question of the press conference, he made a mistake when referring to the “president of Mexico, Al Sisi”, in reference to the president of Egypt. This, after in recent weeks he has referred to French President Emmanuel Macron by the name of his predecessor François Mitterrand and that he has also been wrong when remembering a conversation with German Chancellor Angela Merkel saying that it had been with Helmut Kohl .

Donald Trump, Biden's foreseeable rival in the presidential elections on November 5, has had similar slips. He said that Hungarian Viktor Orbán is the “president of Türkiye.” He also claimed that her Republican primary rival, Nikki Haley, had been in charge of Capitol security on January 6, 2021, confusing her with Nancy Pelosi. And he warned that Biden's foreign policy was going to provoke “World War II.”

But while for Trump, who has ridden through the primaries on the back of four charges for 91 crimes, these errors do not take their toll, for Biden, 81, they are a shot in his waterline. In a poll published last August by the Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research, three in four Americans thought the president is too old to serve another term. And when they were asked what words came to mind if they thought about him, “old”, “slow”, “clumsy” or “sleepy” predominated, the nickname given to him by his predecessor. Democrats have closed ranks with Biden due to the lack of leadership alternatives, but they are also aware of their candidate's weaknesses.

Prosecutor Hur's report is a gift for Republicans, who have called for the president to be disqualified due to disability. Furthermore, by not filing charges, but criticizing Biden for his handling of the documents, he leaves Trump to defend himself against his accusations by denouncing an alleged double standard of justice, overlooking the fact that the report itself highlights the enormous differences. between both cases.

The president's lawyers have reproached the prosecutor for saying in his report that his behavior has been “totally irresponsible,” putting in quotes precisely the words with which Biden referred to Trump's behavior. They charge that “this type of criticism of an unindicted party violates the Department of Justice's long-standing practice and protocol,” citing a painful precedent for Democrats. In July 2016, FBI Director James Comey lashed out at Hillary Clinton for being “extremely careless” with classified material and noted that there was “evidence of possible violations” of the law, although his ultimate conclusion was that “no reasonable prosecutor I would present a case like that.” A later review said that type of rating was inadequate.

Hur’s “totally irresponsible” about Biden is reminiscent of Comey’s “extremely careless” about Clinton. In both reports, those investigated are exonerated, but with little to celebrate.
There is some coincidence that the Comey report helped throw the White House doors wide open for Trump. Will the Hur report open them for his return?

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