Biden, White House blame Israel war for forgetting basic facts during special counsel interviews

President Biden said Thursday that he struggled to remember certain key dates during his interviews with Special Counsel Robert Hur as a result of the ongoing Israel-Hamas war.

Biden told reporters that he was "handling an international crisis" at the time of his interviews with federal investigators shortly after Hur released his 345-page report Thursday detailing the findings in his investigation into the president's handling of classified documents. In the report, Hur noted that Biden's memory failed him in multiple instances, saying the president forgot when he was vice president and when his son Beau died.

"I sought no delays. In fact, I was so determined to get the special counsel what they needed," Biden remarked. "I went forward with a five-hour in-person interview over the two days of October — the ninth, eighth and ninth last year — even though Israel had just been attacked by Hamas on the seventh. I was in the middle of handling an international crisis."

"Bottom line is, a special counsel in my case decided against moving forward any charges, and this matter is now closed," the president continued. "I'll continue to do what I've always done — stay focused on my job like you do, of my job of being president."

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Additionally, shortly after the report was published, Biden's personal lawyers Richard Sauber and Bob Bauer penned a letter to Hur, criticizing him for his characterization of the president's memory. The lawyers said the report's language has "no place in a Department of Justice report."

"We do not believe that the report’s treatment of President Biden’s memory is accurate or appropriate," Sauber and Bauer