Biden Forgets Things In Speech Defending His Memory

NPR Washington Desk - President Biden gave a fiery defense of his mental acuity at the White House on Thursday evening (01/09/2024) after a U.S. Justice Department special counsel delivered a report that described him as an "elderly man with a poor memory" who had trouble remembering timelines.

Biden emphasized that the DOJ concluded he should not be charged over classified documents found in his home and an office — and quoted sections of the report that contrasted his behavior with that of former President Donald Trump, who faces federal charges related to retention of classified documents.

Biden blamed his staff for the documents being in the wrong places, and said he should have overseen their efforts more closely.

He angrily responded to special counsel Robert Hur's description of a portion of an interview in which Hur said Biden seemed to not remember when his son, Beau, died.

"How in the hell dare he raise that?" Biden said, adding it was "none of their damn business," and choking up with emotion. "I don't need anyone to remind me when he passed away," he said. He said that Hur's description did not belong in the report. "They don't know what they're talking about," he said.

Beau Biden died in 2015.

Asked by a reporter about the description of being "a well-meaning elderly man with a poor memory," Biden said: "I'm well meaning and I'm an elderly man and I know what I'm doing."

Asked if his memory had become worse, he said: "My memory is fine."

But when he answered a question about current hostage negotiations with Israel and Hamas, Biden mistakenly said that President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi of Egypt was the "president of Mexico."

In recent days in off-camera events, Biden has thrice mixed up names of foreign leaders, calling French President Emmanuel Macron "Mitterrand" and former German Chancellor Angela Merkel "Helmut Kohl." François Mitterrand and Kohl were former leaders of France and Germany, respectively.

Read more: https://www.npr.org/2024/02/08/1230290474/biden-classified-documents-response