According to reports, lawyers for President Biden pushed the Justice Department to remove language from Special Counsel Robert Hur’s report that was critical of Biden’s age and memory.
Hur’s report examining Biden’s retention of classified documents noted Biden appeared to have “significantly limited” memory and mental faculties, which affected his recollection of events during an interview.
Hur cited Biden’s poor memory as a reason not to prosecute him for willfully keeping classified documents.
“We have also considered that, at trial, Mr. Biden would likely present himself to a jury, as he did during our interview of him, as a sympathetic, well-meaning, elderly man with a poor memory,” the report reads. “Based on our direct interactions with and observations of him, he is someone for whom many jurors will want to identify reasonable doubt.”
“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.”
“He did not remember, even within several years, when his son Beau died,” it added.
However, Biden’s lawyers complained this violated DOJ policy.
A senior DOJ official claimed the language was included to explain Hur’s conclusions, not criticize Biden.
Biden’s lawyers disagreed, however, asserting the comments were inconsistent with DOJ practices.
The report contained several examples of Biden’s apparent cognitive decline and poor memory retention, even within a few years, fueling broader concerns about his age and ability to serve another term.
