Why Biden’s ‘diminished faculties’ are now the focus of special counsel’s report

The decision of a special counsel to not recommend criminal charges against U.S. President Joe Biden for his handling of classified materials has been quickly overshadowed by a larger issue: concerns about the president’s age and memory.

The report, released by special counsel Robert Hur on Thursday after a year-long investigation, included repeated references to Biden’s “hazy,” “fuzzy,” “faulty” and “poor” memory during interviews with investigators and the ghostwriter of his memoirs. Those lapses, Hur said, would likely be enough to convince a jury that Biden didn’t “willfully” break the law in keeping classified documents at his home and private offices over his decades-long political career.

Biden forcefully defended himself Thursday against the report, which he and the White House said was “gratuitous” in noting he could not recall defining milestones in his own life, such as when his son Beau died or when he served as vice-president.

“My memory is fine,” Biden told reporters.

“How in the hell dare he raise that,” he added, growing visibly angry over the suggestion he didn’t remember that Beau Biden died from brain cancer in 2015. “Frankly, when I was asked the question I thought to myself, it wasn’t any of their damn business. … I don’t need anyone to remind me when he passed away.”

Ian Sams, a spokesperson for the White House counsel’s office, and Vice President Kamala Harris both suggested at separate events on Friday that the references to Biden’s memory by Hur, a Republican, were fueled by politics. Republican politicians have pointed to Biden’s gaffes as proof the 81-year-old president is unfit for office, and a majority of voters in polls have said they’re concerned about a second Biden term because of his age.

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