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US President Joe Biden: “I know what the hell I’m doing”

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Evan Vucci/AP

Actually, the case should be over: the documents affair will have no legal repercussions for US President Joe Biden. However, special investigator Robert Hur's justification and his report are likely to cause lasting damage to Biden's reputation. The US President reacted accordingly to the publication. The overview:

What is it about?

It was a surprising find while clearing out an old office: In November 2022, Joe Biden's employees discovered confidential documents from Biden's time as vice president in a locked cabinet in Washington. As a result, investigators were called in and searched rooms and houses in various locations - and even more documents turned up. Biden then expressed surprise, saying he didn't know who brought the documents there or what they contained.

Biden is not the only top politician who is currently experiencing a document affair: Ex-President Donald Trump dominated the headlines at the time of Biden's discoveries, among other things, because he was also said to have illegally hoarded secret government documents. Trump has now been impeached for this. What would this all mean for Biden? Attorney General Merrick Garland eventually appointed special counsel Robert Hur to investigate the sensitive allegations against his own boss.

What does the report say about the affair?

Hur presented his report on Thursday (you can read the original document here ). The good news for Joe Biden: The special investigator does not believe criminal charges against the US President are justified, even if Biden initially "intentionally" kept the documents from his time as Vice President. Hur highlighted significant differences between the document affair surrounding Biden and that surrounding his Republican predecessor. While Biden voluntarily handed over secret documents to the National Archives after they were first found and cooperated during the investigation, Trump refused to return the documents "for many months." In addition, according to the indictment against him, Trump "instructed third parties to destroy documents and then lie about it."

What else does the report say?

Hur's investigation is particularly explosive because of the picture he paints of the 81-year-old Biden. The special investigator justified the decision not to take further steps, among other things, by saying that Biden's memory was "significantly impaired" during the questioning. The president is a “well-meaning older man with a bad memory.” Hur gives several examples for this assessment:

  • Hur describes the investigators' conversations with the US President as difficult. Biden's memory revealed "significant limitations" and was sometimes "blurred." The conversations were “often painfully slow.”

  • It is said that Biden had difficulty remembering events and sometimes even reading and reproducing his own notes. "He no longer knew when he was vice president, forgot when his term ended on the first day of the interview and forgot when his term began on the second day of the interview."

  • Biden also could no longer remember when his son Beau died. Biden's eldest son died of cancer in 2015.

  • Long recordings of Biden's conversations with his ghostwriter for a book published in 2017 were also evaluated. The material left investigators with a disastrous picture. Biden said, for example, that he had “just found all the secret material on the ground floor” of a house he was renting in Virginia at the time.

What does Joe Biden say about this?

Biden went on the offensive following the presentation of Hur's report: "My memory is good," he declared at a press conference that was scheduled at short notice. “I'm an older man and I know what the hell I'm doing. I’m president and I got this country back on its feet.”

He was particularly upset by the comments about his son's death: "How the hell dare he bring that up," Biden complained about the special investigator. When the question about his son came up during the interviews, he thought it was none of the special counsel's business, Biden said. At the same time, he vehemently rejected allegations made in the report. For example, he claimed that he had not shared any secret information with his ghostwriter for a book.

How was the special prosecutor selected?

Before Robert Hur was appointed as special counsel, he worked as an attorney for a law firm in Washington. Before that, he was a prosecutor in the US state of Maryland. Hur was nominated for this position by then-President Donald Trump. Before this position, he already worked in the Ministry of Justice - for example on the topics of combating terrorism and corporate fraud.

Attorney General Garland chose - perhaps as an attempt to show the greatest possible independence - a man who rose in the wake of Donald Trump.

What impact could the report have?

Hur's report brings back memories of a Pyrrhic victory for another Democrat: Two days before the 2016 US election, then-FBI Director James Comey announced that he would no longer investigate Hillary Clinton in the email scandal. Just a few days earlier, he had surprisingly resumed the relevant investigations. During her time as Secretary of State, Clinton sent or received numerous official emails via her private server.

The timing is completely different this time, Hur's report appears much further away from the 2024 election. But the pattern is similar: a message that is actually exculpatory is delivered in a context that can potentially do harm. In Clinton's case, this was her careless handling of state secrets - in Biden's case, his alleged forgetfulness and confusion. It is of course unclear whether this process alone cost Clinton the presidency. One thing is clear: a discussion about his mental state could jeopardize Biden's re-election.

sol/dpa/AFP/AP