Joe Biden’s memory: US President forgets when he was vice president and when his son died

President Joe Biden speaks to the House Democratic Caucus Issues Conference. Photo / AP

The longstanding concerns about President Joe Biden’s age and memory intensified on Thursday after the release of a special counsel’s report investigating his possession of classified documents.

The report described the 81-year-old Democrat’s memory as “hazy,” “fuzzy,” “faulty,” “poor” and having “significant limitations”. It noted that Biden could not recall defining milestones in his own life.

“He did not remember when he was vice president, forgetting on the first day of the interview when his term ended (‘if it was 2013 — when did I stop being Vice President?’), and forgetting on the second day of the interview when his term began (‘in 2009, am I still Vice President?’),” the report said. “He did not remember, even within several years, when his son Beau died.”

In response to Robert Hur’s portrayal of him, Biden insisted to reporters that “My memory is fine,” and said he believes he remains the most qualified person to serve as president.

“How in the hell dare he raise that?” Biden asked, about Hur’s comments regarding his son’s death, saying he didn’t believe it was any of Hur’s business.

President Joe Biden speaks to the House Democratic Caucus Issues Conference. Photo / AP

While Biden will not face charges for mishandling classified documents, the report’s assertions about his memory could undermine Biden’s message to voters that he can manage the government and safeguard the country. Voters are already going into this year’s election with severe misgivings about Biden’s age, having scrutinised his gaffes, his coughing, his slow walking and even a tumble off his bicycle.

In ruling out a prosecution of Biden over his retention of highly classified materials as a private citizen, the report suggested he would seem too feeble to prosecute: “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 White House pushed back on the characterisations of Biden’s memory in a February 5 letter from the president’s lawyers that was published in special counsel Robert Hur’s report. The letter argues Biden’s “inability to recall dates or details of events that happened years ago is neither surprising nor unusual”, particularly about when certain documents were packed or moved.

“We do not believe that the report’s treatment of President Biden’s memory is accurate or appropriate,” the letter said. “The report uses highly prejudicial language to describe a commonplace occurrence among witnesses: a lack of recall of years-old events. Such comments have no place in a Department of Justice report.”

It is not unusual for the subjects of government investigations to say they don’t recall an event or a conversation in order to avoid issues such as perjury. The special counsel did not release the transcript of the interviews with Biden, so some context is unclear. Former President Donald Trump, the current Republican frontrunner, has boasted of his own vast memory but has also at times said in legal proceedings that he does not recall certain events.

President Joe Biden speaks in the Diplomatic Reception Room of the White House. Photo / AP

Biden noted in a statement issued on Friday that he had sat for five hours of interviews with Hur’s team over two days on October 8 and 9, “even though Israel had just been attacked on October 7th and I was in the middle of handling an international crisis”.

In an August poll by The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs, 77 per cent of US adults said Biden is too old to be effective for four more years. It was one of the rare sources of bipartisan agreement during a politically polarised era, with 89 per cent of Republicans and 69 per cent of Democrats saying Biden’s age is a problem.

The release of the report overlapped with recent Biden speeches in which he mistakenly claimed to talk with European leaders — France’s Francois Mitterand and Germany’s Helmut Kohl — who had, in fact, not held office since the 1990s and had died several years ago.

The 77-year-old Trump also faces questions about recent memory lapses. In a January speech, Trump mistakenly and repeatedly confused former UN Ambassador Nikki Haley, his major opponent for the GOP nomination, with Rep. Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif.

Pelosi was the House speaker during the January 6, 2021, insurrection by Trump’s supporters who were seeking to stop the certification of the 2020 election results. Trump said it was Haley who led the House and alleged she should have done more to secure it.

But Republican critics were quick to pile on today as the special counsel’s report became public.

Rep. Tom Emmer, R-Minn., said on X, formerly Twitter, that the report was “alarming” and it’s clear Biden “does not have the cognitive ability to be President”.

“If you’re too senile to stand trial, then you’re too senile to be president. Joe Biden is unfit to lead this nation,” said Alex Pfeiffer, a spokesman for Make America Great Again Inc, the main super PAC backing Trump’s candidacy.

Shortly before the special counsel’s report was publicly released, White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre was playing down Biden’s gaffes at the daily news briefing. Jean-Pierre said the slip-ups are “common” for most public figures, including those younger than Biden.

“It happens to all of us,” said Jean-Pierre, who noted she herself has misspoken, as has House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La.

Jean-Pierre tried to say the public’s attention should be focused more on the substance of what Biden was saying about how world leaders are worried about Trump’s possible return to the White House.

And Congressional Black Caucus Chairman Steven Horsford, D-Nev, today dismissed concerns about Biden’s mental acuity after the president’s mix-ups earlier this week.

“I was with the president on Sunday,” Horsford said, referring to Biden’s Nevada visit. “The president is very well suited to be our commander-in-chief and we’re going to continue to focus on the issues that the American people are focused on.”