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US President Joe Biden: "I mean, I'm an older man and I know what the hell I'm doing"
Photo: Evan Vucci / AP
So there Joe Biden stood on Thursday evening (local time) in Washington at a short-term press conference in the White House and had to talk about the performance of his brain. "My memory is good," said the US President.
This was followed by even more praise on his own behalf: the 81-year-old emphasized that no one was as qualified for the office of president as he was. “I mean, 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.”
Biden's appearance made it clear how much political explosive the head of state and his team see in special investigator Robert Hur's report on the documents affair. Biden will not be charged in the affair surrounding the storage of secret documents. However, Hur gave Biden unflattering comments about his memory. Biden "intentionally" kept the documents from his time as vice president, but criminal charges are not justified in the case. Biden seems like a “well-meaning, older man with a bad memory.”
This was a great opportunity for the US Republicans, who want to regain power in the White House in the upcoming presidential election in November. Doubts about Biden's suitability for office given his advanced age have long been part of Republican criticism of Biden.
Republican attack
The special investigator's report was "deeply disturbing," said Mike Johnson, Chair of the House of Representatives, and other members of the House of Representatives. The statement continued: "A man too incompetent to be held accountable for mishandling classified documents is certainly unfit for the Oval Office."
Biden has caused a stir in recent days with several slips of the tongue during public appearances. On Wednesday evening, at an event to collect campaign donations in New York, he spoke of a conversation he had with Helmut Kohl at the 2021 G7 summit - but the long-time Chancellor had already died in 2017. Instead, Germany was represented at the time by Chancellor Angela Merkel (CDU).
Last week, Biden mentioned the G7 summit in 2021 in a speech in Las Vegas. He confused French President Emmanuel Macron with his predecessor François Mitterrand, who died almost 30 years ago, and initially referred to him as the head of state of Germany.
“Everyday phenomenon among witnesses”
Polls show people in the United States are increasingly concerned about the advanced age of Biden, who wants to run for the presidency a second time.
Even before Biden's short-term press conference, the White House welcomed the special counsel's decision not to indict Biden. However, it criticized “incorrect and inappropriate statements” in the special investigator’s report.
In a letter to Hur, attorneys Richard Sauber and Bob Bauer wrote that the report used "very biased language" to describe a "common phenomenon among witnesses: their inability to recall events that occurred several years ago." . Such comments are “out of place in a Justice Department report.”
Biden himself said he was “pleased” about the decision on the documents affair, which he had expected. The matter was now “closed,” declared the President. During his time as a politician, Biden added that he was “always committed to protecting America’s security.” »I take these issues seriously and no one has ever doubted it.«
At the end of 2022, around a dozen confidential government documents from his time as vice president were found in an office previously used by Biden. Additional secret documents were subsequently discovered in Biden's garage and at his home in Wilmington, Delaware. Attorney General Merrick Garland then appointed former federal prosecutor Robert Hur as special prosecutor in the Biden case. Hur was once appointed federal prosecutor by Trump.
hen/AFP/dpa/Reuters