How Biden campaign, allies are doing damage control after special counsel report

The Biden-Harris campaign, its surrogates and allies were forced to do damage control on Friday after special counsel Robert Hur's report about President Joe Biden's handling of classified documents painted a scathing picture of his age and memory, raising new questions for voters nine months before the November election.

Despite Hur not bringing criminal charges, his report levied what amounted to a political indictment against the 81-year-old president, with investigators writing that a main reason for not pursuing charges was because «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.»

Biden clapped back in a hastily-scheduled news conference Thursday night, just hours after the report was released, telling reporters, «I'm well-meaning, and I'm an elderly man, and I know what the hell I'm doing.»

The president's top surrogates, from Vice President Kamala Harris to congressional Democrats, kept pushing back on Friday, dismissing the special counsel's report as «politically motivated» and «inappropriate.»

The Biden campaign declined to comment when asked how it's trying to quell renewed concerns about the president's age.

A source familiar with the campaign's thinking told ABC News that Republicans attacking the president's age is nothing new, saying that strategy didn't work in 2020 and won't work in 2024, when the source said voters value experience and wisdom as well.

Here are five ways Biden allies are striking back:

Biden surrogates have been quick to point out that Robert Hur, a Republican, was appointed by former President Donald Trump to be U.S. Attorney in Maryland in 2018. However, it was Attorney General Merrick