- President Joe Biden held a last-minute press conference after a special counsel report cast doubt on his memory.
- Mr. Biden strongly condemned these claims and reprimanded reporters who pursued them.
- But Biden also made gaffes and misspoken words shortly after defending his memory.
President Joe Biden appeared furious about the special counsel's report on the handling of classified documents during a last-minute press conference at the White House on Thursday.
While the report determined that Biden should not face criminal charges, it also included harsh descriptions of his memory, calling it “poor” and “vague.”
Mr. Biden began his press conference by pointing to the special counsel's findings that the criminal charges were unwarranted and saying there was a lack of evidence that he had intentionally kept classified materials.
“They don't know what they're talking about,” Biden said of the claims about his memory.
The report said Biden does not remember how many years he served as vice president (January 2009 to January 2017) or when his son Beau died (2015).
Biden was especially furious when he mentioned the allegations about his son.
“When he passes away, no one needs to remind us,” Biden said.
He said he sat for hours over two days during an ongoing international crisis and discussed events from decades ago. He sat down for questioning just days after Hamas launched an attack on Israel.
“My memory is fine,” Biden said when asked by reporters.
In response to a reporter's question about why he should become the Democratic presidential nominee, Biden insisted that he is the most qualified president and that he should finish what he started.
But shortly after Biden defended his memory, he made a similar gaffe, raising concerns and criticism about his mental strength.
When speaking about the situation in Israel and Gaza, Biden said he spoke to the Mexican president, but was actually referring to the Egyptian president.
It's not exactly new information that Biden's biggest liability is that he's in his 80s. Polls consistently show that Americans of both political parties are concerned about the president's age and physical strength.
But the fact that the special counsel's report so directly evokes his memory may be harder for voters to ignore than it would be for Republican pundits to file a report.
And it will be even harder for Biden and his campaign to ignore.
