The Hur Report Seriously Hurt Joe Biden's Reelection Chances - President Joe Biden was defiant on Thursday while addressing the harsh report from special counsel Robert Hur on his classified documents probe. The 388-page report found that while there is evidence that Biden "willfully retained" and shared highly classified materials when he was a private citizen – including about military and foreign policy in Afghanistan – it recommended that charges were not warranted.

"Bottom line is the special counsel in my case decided against moving forward with any charges," Biden said. "And this matter is now closed."

In a subsequent statement from the White House, Biden also reaffirmed that the matter of the classified documents was closed.

Joe Biden Has Bigger Problems Now...

The matter of the documents may be closed, but the report has only opened up potentially new problems for the sitting president, namely that it questioned his mental health, including his memory.

"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. Based on our direct interactions with and observations of him, he is someone for whom many jurors will want to identify reasonable doubt. 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," the report stated.

It further described the 81-year-old Democrat's memory as "hazy," "fuzzy," "faulty," "poor" and most damningly suggested it has "significant limitations." The report claimed Biden couldn't recall many defining milestones in his life – notably when his son Beau died or even the years he served as vice president.

Biden fired back at those accusations, stating on Thursday evening, "My memory is fine."

However, President Biden then proceeded to make a signature gaffe, calling Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi "the president of Mexico." Video of the commentary has since gone viral on social media.

Joe Biden Has a Problem

As reported by The Associated Press, Hur, a former U.S. Attorney in the Trump administration, was appointed by Attorney General Merrick Garland as special counsel in January 2023 following an initial discovery by Biden staff of classified records in his Washington office space.

Supporters of the president have suggested this was essentially a backdoor assault on Mr. Biden to hurt his chances for reelection.

"Hur knew exactly what he was doing here. To provide political cover for himself for not prosecuting, he gratuitously leveled a personal (not legal) charge against the president that he absolutely knows is a gift to Trump. And, guess what we are all talking about?," former Obama adviser Stephanie Cutter wrote on X, the social media platform formerly known as Twitter.

Yet, even many senior Democrats are now concerned as Biden's mental health is in the spotlight.

As Axios noted, an unnamed House Democrat called Biden's verbal slip-ups "awful," and wondered why the president's staff allowed him to hold a press conference and then field reporters' shouted questions "that late at night after a full day," instead of Friday morning, when he'd be "fresh."

Whether intentional or not, the Hur report will hurt Biden come November – if not sooner.

Author Experience and Expertise: Peter Suciu

Peter Suciu is a Michigan-based writer. He has contributed to more than four dozen magazines, newspapers, and websites with over 3,200 published pieces over a twenty-year career in journalism. He regularly writes about military hardware, firearms history, cybersecurity, politics, and international affairs. Peter is also a Contributing Writer for Forbes and Clearance Jobs. You can follow him on Twitter: @PeterSuciu. You can email the author: [email protected].

Image Credit: Gage Skidmore.