Special Counsel Robert Hur’s report described President Biden as “a sympathetic, well-meaning, elderly man with a poor memory” — and quite a few political analysts stated that was precisely the impression that the president left on viewers of the debate on Thursday.
In the February report, which famous that Biden’s “memory also appeared to have significant limitations,” Hur stated he would carry no prison expenses towards the president after a months-long investigation into his improper retention of labeled paperwork associated to nationwide safety.
“Based on our direct interactions with and observations of him, he is someone from whom many jurors will want to identify reasonable doubt,” the report acknowledged. “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.”
During and after Biden’s debate towards former President Donald Trump this week, a number of political analysts took to social media to counsel that Hur, who confronted criticism from Democrats and liberal media figures over the report’s feedback about Biden’s reminiscence and judgment, had been “vindicated” and “deserves an apology.”
HOUSE GOP WILL SUE DOJ NEXT WEEK TO GET BIDEN-HUR AUDIO TAPES, JOHNSON SAYS
Special Counsel Robert Hur’s report described Biden as “a sympathetic, well-meaning, elderly man with a poor memory,” mirroring what some analysts consider is the impression he left on viewers of the debate. (Getty Images)
“You know who’s looking really vindicated tonight? Special counsel Robert Hur,” Jim Geraghty, National Review’s senior political correspondent and a Washington Post contributing columnist, said amid Biden’s performance.
Echoing Geraghty, Charles C.W. Cooke, a British-born American journalist and a senior author at National Review Online, wrote in a post to X, “Robert Hur deserves an apology.”
Former Trump-era White House press secretary Kayleigh McEnany additionally weighed in on Biden’s efficiency by referencing Hur.
“Biden is worse than anyone knew. Robert Hur must have been truly shocked. Now the country is,” McEnany, the co-host of Fox News’ “Outnumbered,” said in a post to social media.
During the interview with Hur, Biden, based on the report, “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?’)”Â
“He did not remember, even within several years, when his son Beau died. And his memory appeared hazy when describing the Afghanistan debate that was once so important to him. Among other things, he mistakenly said he ‘had a real difference’ of opinion with General Karl Eikenberry, when, in fact, Eikenberry was an ally whom Mr. Eiden cited approvingly in his Thanksgiving memo to President Obama,” Hur’s report stated.
President Biden and former President Trump throughout a presidential debate in Atlanta, Georgia, on June 27, 2024. (Getty Images)
Biden and his allies aggressively pushed back on considerations about his psychological health within the report’s wake. Though a full transcript of the interview has been launched, Republican lawmakers are nonetheless in search of audio tapes of the discussions.
Earlier this week, forward of the debate, House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., stated House Republicans will file a lawsuit subsequent week to drive the Department of Justice (DOJ) at hand over audio tapes of Hur’s interview with Biden.
“We are going to file a suit next week against the — against the Department of Justice to enforce that subpoena. We’ll go to district court here in D.C., which is the appropriate venue, and we will fight vigorously to get it,” Johnson instructed reporters at his common press convention.
Attorney General Merrick Garland beforehand refused House GOP investigators’ subpoena for the audio tapes, citing Biden’s declare of government privilege.
Garland’s refusal spurred House Republicans to carry him in contempt earlier this month, referring Garland to his personal division for prison expenses. The DOJ in the end declined to prosecute.
Attorney General Merrick Garland (left) beforehand refused House GOP investigators’ subpoena for the audio tapes, citing Biden’s declare of government privilege. (Getty Images)
CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP
Following Biden’s debate efficiency, a number of media figures now assist the discharge of the audio tapes from the president’s interview with Hur, together with Washington Post columnist Megan McArdle.
“If you hold out hope that Biden’s performance on Thursday was just an aberration, you should call for the administration to release the tapes of his interview with Robert Hur so we can all hear what he sounds like when he doesn’t have a cold,” McArdle wrote in a post on X.
Fox News’ Brooke Singman and Elizabeth Elkind contributed to this report.