Biden’s 100 memory lapses in interview over classified files
JOE Biden said he ‘couldn’t remember’ more than 100 times while being interviewed over his alleged illegal retention of classified documents.
The President made dozens of statements such as ‘I have no goddamn idea’ to Special Counsel Robert Hur, who was looking into his mishandling of classified documents.
Transcripts of the five-hour interview show multiple blunders from Mr Biden, including struggling to remember the year when his son Beau died or the year that
‘Elderly man with a poor memory’
Donald Trump was elected. Mr Hur’s report sparked speculation over the President’s suitability for office due to his age. In it, Mr Hur said Mr Biden had not violated the espionage act, adding he was a ‘sympathetic, well-meaning, elderly man with a poor memory’.
The counsel said Mr Biden, who is the oldest President in history and will reach 86 in office if he is re-elected, had ‘diminished faculties’ which meant a jury would be unlikely to convict him.
The transcripts of the interviews, which were conducted in October last year, were released hours before Mr Hur testified before the Republican-led house judiciary committee. During one excruciating moment in the interview, Mr Biden forgot a series of key events in his life, starting with his son’s death in 2015 from brain cancer – asking: ‘Was it 2015 he died?’
The President then asked if Mr Trump was elected in November 2017 but was corrected by a member of his team that it was 2016. But the transcript does show that at times Mr Biden was lucid and precise, sometimes correcting Mr Hur.
Mr Hur, who was previously appointed by Mr Trump as chief federal law enforcement officer in Maryland, told the committee: ‘My assessment... about the relevance of the President’s memory was necessary and accurate and fair.’