After the publication of an unflattering report from special prosecutor Robert Hur for Joe Biden, calling into question the president’s abilities, the White House continues its counterattack. Thursday evening, Joe Biden appeared before journalists for an unscheduled intervention, around 8 p.m., during which he rejected any allusion to his health.
Special prosecutor’s comments are “gratuitous and inappropriate criticism”said Ian Sams, a White House spokesperson, Friday February 9. “When the obvious conclusion is that the evidence does not support an indictment, one wonders why this report devotes so much space to gratuitous and inappropriate criticism of the president”continued the spokesperson.
Asked whether the White House would release a copy of the transcript of the president’s interview with the special prosecutor, Mr. Sams said that some portions were classified, but that if any portions could be declassified a review would be made and ” a decision “ will be taken.
While the spokesperson did not accuse the special prosecutor of any political motivation, he suggested that Mr. Hur may have felt pressured to “exceeding one’s attributions”due to the very polarized American political context, nine months before the November presidential election. “We are in a political environment under high pressure. And when you’re the first special prosecutor who hasn’t indicted anyone, there’s pressure to criticize.”continued Mr. Sams.
The lesson of Kamala Harris, former prosecutor
Robert Hur, Republican, was appointed federal prosecutor of Maryland (2018-2021) by former President Donald Trump. He was then appointed in January 2023 by Biden administration Attorney General Merrick Garland to investigate the discovery in December 2022 and January 2023 of classified documents dating from Joe Biden’s time as vice president (2009-2017) in his residence in Wilmington (Delaware) as well as in a former office.
American Vice President Kamala Harris, herself a former prosecutor, also denounced Friday the “political motivations” by Robert Hur. Responding to a reporter’s question at the end of a violence prevention event at the White House, she recalled that this interview took place in October 2023, in the very first days of the international crisis triggered by the unprecedented attack by Palestinian Hamas in Israel. “It was an intense moment for the commander in chief of the United States of America”recalled Mme Harris.
She added that “the manner in which the president’s behavior in this report has been characterized could not be more factually incorrect and clearly politically motivated, gratuitous”. The Vice President of the United States concluded by saying that a special prosecutor should have a “higher level of integrity than we have seen”.
Donald Trump seizes the opportunity
In a report released Thursday recommending against prosecution of 81-year-old Joe Biden, special prosecutor Robert Hur concluded that the president had “knowingly kept and disclosed classified documents after his vice presidency while he was a private citizen”but explained that“an indictment would not be justified”particularly because a jury would give the benefit of the doubt to “a friendly, well-meaning older man with a bad memory”. He also wrote that Mr. Biden’s memory “had gotten worse” : President “didn’t remember when he was vice president” nor exactly the year of the death of his eldest son, Beau.
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“How the hell dare he?” »retorted Thursday evening Joe Biden, for whom it is an extremely painful subject, during a televised speech. “I mean well, I’m an old man and I know what I’m doing, dammit. I have no memory problems », he tried to defend himself, barely containing his frustration. But to make matters worse, Joe Biden then made one of his usual blunders. Asked about the situation in the Gaza Strip, he referred to the “President of Mexico, Sissi”wanting to talk about the Egyptian head of state Abdel Fattah Al-Sissi.
The Democratic president is running for re-election in November and will most likely find on his way former President Donald Trump, aged 77, the wide favorite in the Republican primaries. Friday evening, in front of a crowd of members of the National Rifle Association (NRA) gun lobby in Pennsylvania, the former Republican president jumped at the opportunity and said about his Democratic successor in the White House: “I don’t think he knows he’s alive.” »
The tycoon and tribune also published on his Truth Social network a false map of the Middle East, on which the name of Mexico replaces that of Egypt. At the bottom of the infographic is this note: “Source: Joe Biden”.