Special counsel Robert Hur declined to bring charges against President Joe Biden for his handling of classified documents after the conclusion of his term as vice president.
But that is the end of the good news for the president. Hur concluded that Biden “willfully retained and disclosed classified materials after his vice presidency when he was a private citizen.”
Even more devastating were the report’s conclusions about Biden’s mental state. In the course of the investigation, Biden failed to remember details about his position on Afghanistan, the mere duration of his vice-presidential term, and even the date of his son Beau’s death.
In interviews with investigators, Biden came across as a “well-meaning, elderly man with a poor memory,” an aura that, the report stressed anyone called to defend Biden in court would emphasize to evade legal consequences for his actions.
The believability of its assertions may account for why Biden’s legal team has responded by trashing Hur, accusing him of an “investigative excess” that has led him to unfairly malign Biden. But at this point, the person doing the most harm to Biden is Biden himself.