Biden responds to special counsel report on handling of classified documents

Nikki Haley speaks during a campaign event on February 7, in Los Angeles, California. 

Republican presidential candidate Nikki Haley said that former President Donald Trump should claim “old age and forgetfulness” when it comes to his classified documents case. It comes after Special Counsel Robert Hur put out a report finding that President Joe Biden will not face charges after he willfully retained and disclosed classified documents.

Some more context: Haley made an effort to cast the cases of Biden and Trump in the same light, though the two presidents’ handling of classified documents was very different. Hur noted in his report there were distinctions between the two.

The National Archives repeatedly tried and failed to get back documents in Trump’s possession. At one point, the FBI secured a search warrant to search his Florida estate.

Biden’s attorneys, on the other hand, notified the National Archives of the materials found in his possession. Those documents were discovered on November 2, just six days before the midterm elections, but the president’s attorneys only publicly acknowledged the discovery of the documents on November 7 — when news reports about the discovery broke.

President Joe Biden and Special Counsel Robert Hur.

Senate Republicans jumped on the special counsel’s description of President Joe Biden as a “sympathetic, well-meaning elderly man with a poor memory” and alleged a double standard between the handling of Biden’s classified documents case and former President Donald Trump’s case. 

In a joint statement, the House GOP leadership team said one of the most “disturbing parts” of the report is that the president struggled to remember key details during the interview and that “a man too incapable of being held accountable for mishandling classified information is certainly unfit for the Oval Office.”

Here’s what some of them said on X:

The White House continues to push back furiously on the special counsel report on President Biden’s handling of classified documents, with one official telling CNN that it views some of the criticism as “way out of line” and “just wrong.”

White House officials are particularly aggrieved by allegations in the report about Biden having memory and recall problems, including during Biden’s multi-hour sit-down with Hur in October as well as related to the death of Biden’s son, Beau. 

This official said that as the multi-hour interview got underway in the fall, Hur acknowledged to the president that he would be asking about some things from a long time ago and prompted Biden to recall things to the best of his ability – and thanked the president for doing the interview in the middle of a serious international crisis. The weekend of Biden’s interview, Hamas had attacked Israel. 

White House officials are also taking issue with a reference in the report that says Biden “did not remember, even within several years, when his son Beau died.”

“He remembers the day Beau died every day of his life and to suggest otherwise is insulting,” this official said.

While Republicans are highlighting mentions of Joe Biden’s memory lapses in the special counsel report on classified documents, Democrats in the Senate are defending the president.

Democratic Sen. Mark Kelly told CNN he has not seen any signs Biden has a “poor memory.” Robert Hur’s report said Biden appeared to struggle to remember key details and dates.

Sen. Richard Blumenthal, though admitting he has not read the report, dismissed some of the claims that question Biden’s memory, saying, “I’ve talked to him at hours on end as recently as a couple of months ago” and the president is “as sharp as ever.”

 Blumenthal said this will not affect the 2024 election.

President Joe Biden delivers remarks at the Carpenters International Training Center in Las Vegas on December 8.

As President Joe Biden and his allies work to rebut the most damning claims about his memory contained in special counsel Robert Hur’s report, they are pointing to the timing of his interview to demonstrate a leader preoccupied with world events rather than instant historical recall.

Biden sat for the interview on October 8 and 9, as he was consumed with the fallout of the Hamas attack on Israel on October 7. In that stretch of days, Biden spoke by telephone with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, convened meetings with his national security team and delivered statements on the situation in the Middle East.

“I was in the middle of handling an international crisis,” Biden said Thursday about an hour after the report was released.

His written statement made a similar point.

In a letter to the special counsel, Biden’s lawyers sought to put his interview in that context.

“In the lead up to the interview, the President was conducting calls with heads of state, Cabinet members, members of Congress, and meeting repeatedly with his national security team,” White House counsel Richard Sauber and Biden personal attorney Bob Bauer wrote a five-page letter to Hur on Monday, saying that raising issues with Biden’s memory was “entirely superfluous.”

Special counsel Robert Hur’s report highlighted one of President Joe Biden’s biggest political weaknesses – questions over whether the 81-year-old president is mentally fit for office.

Hur’s report states Biden had frequent memory lapses during his interviews with investigators, including not being able to recall when his son Beau died or exactly when Biden was vice president, and he could not remember details of a debate over Afghanistan that appeared very important to him.

There are multiple passages in the report that detail when “Mr. Biden’s memory was significantly limited.” That forgetfulness was part of Hur’s explanation for not charging the president with any crimes.

Biden’s age and memory are a massive political problem for the president and certain passages from the report will likely exacerbate that issue.

What Biden’s team has said: Biden’s personal and White House attorneys pushed back against the characterization, calling the details “entirely superfluous.”

“We do not believe that the report’s treatment of President Biden’s memory is accurate or appropriate,” wrote White House counsel Richard Sauber and Bob Bauer.

US President Joe Biden delivers remarks at the House Democratic Caucus Issues Conference in Leesburg, Virginia, on Thursday.

In his first public comment following the release of the special counsel report examining his handling of classified documents, President Joe Biden on Thursday reiterated that the report decided against moving forward with any criminal charges.

He declared the matter of his classified document handling “closed,” and said he was “pleased to see they reached the conclusion… no charges should be brought in this case.”

The president also mentioned how he was interviewed in the immediate aftermath of the October 7 attack on Israel, appearing to excuse memory lapses during his interview which were mentioned in the report. 

He also focused on the report making “clear the stark differences between this case and Donald Trump.” He said the special counsel noted that while he returned the documents “to avoid and avoided prosecution, Mr. Trump allegedly did the opposite.”

Former President Donald Trump speaks at his Mar-a-Lago estate Thursday in Palm Beach, Florida.

Former President Donald Trump railed against the decision by special counsel Robert Hur to not recommend President Joe Biden face charges after Hur’s year-long investigation into Biden’s handling of classified documents. 

Trump — who faces criminal charges over his own handling of classified documents — argued Biden’s actions were worse than his and that he was facing different treatment under the justice system. 

Hur released a searing report earlier on Thursday that concluded Biden willfully retained and disclosed classified military and national security information but recommended he not face charges. 

Trump again argued special counsel Jack Smith, who charged Trump over his alleged mishandling of classified documents, should drop the case against him.

The White House is expected continue to point to this special counsel report as inappropriately and unnecessarily long and detailed when it is ultimately not bringing criminal charges against the president. 

Asked for a reaction to the Robert Hurt report that was just made public, a senior adviser to the president told CNN:

Biden’s personal lawyer Bob Bauer leaned into that in his statement, saying this report was one of “investigative excess.”

“Whatever the impact of those pressures on the final Report, it flouts Department regulations and norms,” Bauer said. 

The Biden adviser also said the special counsel was directed to conduct an investigation into whether criminal charges were warranted over his handling of classified documents – regardless of whether Biden were president or a civilian. “Asked and answered,” they said.

President Joe Biden walks to board Marine One on the South Lawn of the White House on Thursday in Washington, DC.

On any other week, special counsel Robert Hur’s writing that President Joe Biden could be perceived as “a sympathetic, well-meaning elderly man with a poor memory” would have been a damning portrait of a sitting president.

For Biden, however, the special counsel’s comments about his memory came at an even more inopportune moment. On three separate occasions this week, Biden has confused the names of European leaders who died years ago with those who more recently served in office, raising more questions about his mental recall.

In those episodes, Biden was describing an international summit in 2021. He described speaking with German Chancellor Helmut Kohl, who died in 2017, and French President Francois Mitterrand, who died in 1996.

Only about 45 minutes before the report was released publicly, the White House was working to downplay to slip-ups, saying it’s common for people to misspeak.

She said in meetings, she had never witnessed Biden confuse names.

Yet the picture Hur painted of Biden in the report went well beyond the occasional mistaken name. He said in interviews, the president did not remember the years he was vice president or when his son Beau died.

Immediately after the report was released, White House officials and Biden’s personal lawyer forcefully rejected what they said were inappropriate and incorrect statements about his memory.