Integrity Score 900
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By Josh Boak, Associated Press
WASHINGTON — The longstanding concerns about President Joe Biden's age and memory intensified on Thursday after the release of a special counsel's report investigating his possession of classified documents.
The report described the 81-year-old Democrat's memory as "hazy," "fuzzy," "faulty," "poor" and having "significant limitations." It noted that Biden could not recall defining milestones in his own life.
"He did not remember when he was vice president, forgetting on the first day of the interview when his term ended ('if it was 2013 — when did I stop being vice president?'), and forgetting on the second day of the interview when his term began ('in 2009, am I still vice president?')," the report said. "He did not remember, even within several years, when his son Beau died."
While Biden will not face charges for mishandling classified documents, the report's assertions about his memory could undermine Biden's message to voters that he can manage the government and safeguard the country. Voters are already going into this year's election with severe misgivings about Biden's age, having scrutinized his gaffes, his coughing, his slow walking and even a summer tumble off his bicycle.
In ruling out a prosecution of Biden over his retention of highly classified materials as a private citizen, the report suggested he would seem too feeble to prosecute: "It would be difficult to convince a jury that they should convict him — by then a former president well into his eighties — of a serious felony that requires a mental state of willfulness."
The White House pushed back on the characterizations of Biden's memory in a Feb. 5 letter from the president's lawyers that was published in special counsel Robert Hur's report. The letter argues that Biden's "inability to recall dates or details of events that happened years ago is neither surprising nor unusual," particularly about when certain documents were packed or moved.
"We do not believe that the report's treatment of President Biden's memory is accurate or appropriate," the letter said. "The report uses highly prejudicial language to describe a commonplace occurrence among witnesses: a lack of recall of years-old events...
https://www.ksl.com/article/50872421/bidens-memory-is-hazy-and-poor-says-a-special-counsels-report