An angry and animated President Joe Biden hit back at a Republican prosecutor’s claim that his memory is faulty, during a last-minute and at-times chaotic press conference on Thursday.
The president hit out parts of the report released by Special Counsel Robert Hur, released earlier, and became enfuriated at a suggestion that he did not remember what year his late son, Beau Biden, had died from brain cancer. “How the hell dare he raise that?” he said.
Later, while making reference to the ongoing conflict in the Middle East, he appeared to confuse Mexico with Egypt, saying “The president of Mexico did not want to open up the gate to allow humanitarian material to get in. I talked to him. I convinced to open the gate.”
Mr Hur’s report concluded that Mr Biden will not face charges for “willfully” holding onto classified documents after he left office as vice president.
It stated that Mr Biden “willfully retained and disclosed classified materials after his vice presidency when he was a private citizen”. The materials included documents on military policy in Afghanistan and handwritten notes on national security.
The report also speculated that Mr Biden would present himself to the jury as an “elderly man with poor memory” if hit with criminal charges.
