Special Counsel Hur Stands by Judgment of Biden's Poor Mental State
© AP Photo / Andrew Harnik
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WASHINGTON (Sputnik) - Special Counsel Robert Hur said in a testimony on Tuesday that he stands by his initial assessment about the poor state of President Joe Biden’s memory and calls his description "necessary and fair."
In February, Hur released a report on his year-long investigation into Biden's mishandling of classified documents. Hur concluded that it was not worth initiating a criminal case against the US president because in court before the jury he may appear as a "sympathetic, well-meaning, elderly man with poor memory."
The report also said that during communication with the special prosecutor's team, Biden demonstrated problems with his memory, could not accurately place the beginning and end of his term as US vice president or name the date when his son Beau died.
Following the release of the report, Biden delivered a speech arguing that his memory is "fine," but subsequently mixed up Egyptian President Abdel Fattah Sisi for being president of Mexico.
"You're a dictator, genocide Joe," a pro-Palestinian activist interrupted Biden's speech during a campaign stop in Atlanta, Georgia. pic.twitter.com/k1vrZnFEqg
— Sputnik (@SputnikInt) March 10, 2024
"My assessment in the report about the relevance of the President’s memory was necessary and accurate and fair. Most importantly, what I wrote is what I believe the evidence shows, and what I expect jurors would perceive and believe. I did not sanitize my explanation. Nor did I disparage the President unfairly. I explained to the Attorney General my decision and the reasons for it. That’s what I was required to do," Hur said in his opening remarks during a US House Judiciary Committee hearing.
8 March 2024, 10:44 GMT
Hur is scheduled to deliver testimony before the Judiciary Committee later on Tuesday after the panel issued a subpoena demanding that US Attorney General Merrick Garland provide all documents on Hur’s investigation of Biden’s alleged willful mishandling of classified information.
