“I don’t have memory problems”: Joe Biden defends himself after devastating report

It’s a surprise speech, a last-minute addition to his daily schedule. And it was an irritated Joe Biden who appeared before the press on the night of Thursday to Friday. The US president has vigorously defended himself following a devastating report that cleared him of an investigation into hiding confidential documents but described him as “an elderly man with a poor memory”.

“I mean okay, I’m an old man and I know what the hell I’m doing. I don’t have a memory problem,” Biden, 81, defended during a televised speech.

Hours earlier, a special prosecutor tasked with investigating the handling of confidential documents issued a 388-page report, not recommending charges against him but revealing his main vulnerability, his age, and stating that “his memory has deteriorated.”

Joe Biden “could not remember when he was vice president” or exactly when his eldest son Beau died, special prosecutor Robert Gur said. – How the hell did he dare? “,” Joe Biden thundered about this, clearly in a very excited and defiant tone.

He mixed up France and Germany.

Appointed in January 2023 by Attorney General Merrick Garland, the special counsel concluded that the president “knowingly maintained and disclosed classified documents after his time as vice president while he was a private citizen.”

But he felt that “there would be no merit to the charge,” believing, in part, that the jury would give the presumption of innocence to “a sympathetic, well-intentioned elderly man with a poor memory.”

The expected decision clears up potential legal challenges for the Democratic president as he prepares to face his Republican predecessor Donald Trump in November for a rematch in the 2020 election, but again puts him in a bad position with his political rivals who have not overcome comment on the report’s findings.

Moreover, this happened after in recent days he confused French President Emmanuel Macron and former German Chancellor Angela Merkel with their deceased predecessors.

On Thursday evening, when asked about the conflict in the Gaza Strip, he mentioned discussions about humanitarian aid with “Mexican President Sissi,” referring to the Egyptian head of state.

“Two-tier justice system” for Trump

Following the report’s release, Joe Biden assured in a press release that he had fully cooperated with the investigation, including during a five-hour interview over two days with the special counsel and his team in October 2023, at the outset of the “international crisis” caused by the unprecedented Palestinian attack. Hamas to Israel from the Gaza Strip.

He insisted on the difference between his handling of the case and that of Donald Trump, 77, facing criminal charges for taking hundreds of confidential documents after he left the White House and accused of “obstruction of justice” in the case.

Donald Trump responded to the report by condemning the “two-tier justice system.” “The Biden documents case is different from mine and 100 times more serious. “I didn’t do anything wrong and cooperated much more with the investigation,” he assured.

“Inappropriate comments”

But the special counsel noted in his report the “contrast” between the two men’s handling of their cases, emphasizing that Donald Trump ordered “third parties to destroy evidence and lie,” according to the indictment.

House GOP staffers, including House President Mike Johnson, concluded the “deeply troubling” report showed the president was “unfit” to serve.

White House counsel Richard Sauber, as well as Joe Biden’s personal lawyer Bob Bauer, in a letter attached to the report, welcomed the special counsel’s decision not to initiate proceedings, but expressed regret over the “inappropriate comments” that have “no place.” in the Department of Justice report.”

Mr. Hur’s appointment as special counsel follows the discovery in December 2022 and January 2023 of classified documents dating back to Joe Biden’s time as vice president (2009-2017), particularly on U.S. military commitments in Afghanistan, His meeting residence is in Wilmington, Delaware, and also in his former office.