President Biden had a rough day yesterday, culminating in a ‘damage control’ press conference that only exacerbated the damage.

Special counsel Robert Hur released a 388-page report into Biden’s mishandling of classified documents. While the report concluded that Biden would not be charged criminally, the report scathed Biden for willfully mishandling the documents as a private citizen, and, most notably, for having a poor memory.

Democrats quickly asserted that Hur was a Trump-appointed partisan, who had no business discussing the president’s memory of all things in a report about classified document handling.

Joe Biden responded, too, with a contentious press conference that only confounded the president’s problems, and indeed reinforced the point made in Hur’s report: that Biden is losing his mental edge.

What prompted the Joe Biden press conference?

Hur released the findings of his investigation into Biden’s mishandling of classified documents yesterday.

The report concluded that Biden will not be charged criminally. Yet, the report also took the time to lambast Biden’s memory. Democrats are incensed, accusing Hur of putting his thumb on the 2024 scale, in the style of FBI Director James Comey circa 2016.

Undoubtedly, Democrats are incensed because they recognize the truth, or at least the widely held perception of the truth, in Hur’s critique.

“Mr. Biden’s memory was significantly limited…in his interview with our office in 2023,” Hur wrote. Emphasizing the same point later in the report, Hur wrote: “Mr. Biden’s memory also appeared to have significant limitations…with Mr. Biden struggling to remember events and straining at times to read and relay his own notebook entries…In his interview with our office, Mr. Biden’s memory was worse. He did not remember when he was vice president.”

Hur suggested that charging Biden would be impractical, because the president’s memory was so bad.

“For these jurors, Mr. Biden’s apparent lapses and failures in February and April will likely appear consistent with the diminished faculties and fault memory he showed…in our interview of him,” Hur wrote. “We have also considered that, at trial, Mr. 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.”

Hur topped it all off with a low blow about the president’s deceased son. “[President Biden] did not remember, even within several years, when his son Beau died.”

Understandably, Joe Biden was angry. But Biden’s reaction, and the resultant press conference, only made matters worse.

The Press Conference: How Much Damage Did Joe Biden Do? 

Biden took to the dais to defend his cognitive abilities, in a moment that harkened President Bill Clinton’s “the president is relevant” face plant.

“I’m well-meaning and I’m an elderly man and I know what the hell I’m doing,” Biden retorted. “I’ve been president, I put this country back on its feet. I don’t need his recommendation.” Biden continued: “My memory’s fine. My memory’s – take a look at what I’ve done since I became president…How did that happen? I guess I just forgot what was going on,” the president said sarcastically.

“There’s even reference that I don’t remember when my son died,” Biden said. “How in the hell dare he raise that. Frankly, when I was asked the question, I thought to myself it wasn’t any of their damn business.”

But before the press conference was over, Biden had pulled a Biden, referring to the “president of Mexico, Sisi,” when he was in fact referring to the president of Egypt.

In all, between the report and the press conference, voters are more concerned than ever about the cognitive abilities of their president.

About the Author: Harrison Kass 

Harrison Kass is a defense and national security writer with over 1,000 total pieces on issues involving global affairs. An attorney, pilot, guitarist, and minor pro hockey player, Harrison joined the US Air Force as a Pilot Trainee but was medically discharged. Harrison holds a BA from Lake Forest College, a JD from the University of Oregon, and an MA from New York University. Harrison listens to Dokken.

Image Credit: Gage Skidmore.