U.S. President Joe Biden's team attempted a counter-attack following comments made by special investigator Robert Hur regarding Biden's mental health, emphasizing that these remarks were "inaccurate," "inappropriate," and "politically motivated." U.S. Vice President Kamala Harris criticized the special counsel’s report from the Justice Department concerning Biden's mishandling of classified documents, which raised questions about the president’s memory, arguing that there are political motives behind questioning the president’s age and memory. Harris described the report as "politically driven" and "unjustified."
The White House announced that Biden will establish a task force to protect classified materials between presidential terms. The report by special counsel Robert Hur sparked a debate during the election year and renewed questions about Biden's advancing age. Biden (81 years old) had this week confused the names of several world leaders.
The White House acknowledged that Biden made a mistake by retaining documents at his home. Ian Sams, a White House spokesperson, stated that Biden will soon appoint a task force "to ensure better procedures" for safeguarding classified materials during transitions of power. In response to a reporter's question following an event at the White House focused on preventing gun violence, Harris, a former prosecutor, deemed Hur's comments "unjustified, inaccurate, and inappropriate."
Harris pointed out that Biden's two-day meeting with Hur occurred right after the October 7 attack by Hamas on Israel, which resulted in over 1,200 deaths and around 250 captives - many of whom were Americans. Harris remarked, "It was a difficult moment for the Commander in Chief of the United States," adding that she had spent long hours with Biden and other officials in the following days and that he was "in control of everything."
She continued, "The way the president's behavior was described in that report cannot be more wrong concerning the facts, and it is clearly politically driven and unjustified." Harris concluded her remarks by stating that the special counsel should maintain "a higher level of integrity than what we have seen."
Her comments came a day after Biden asserted that "his memory is good," displaying visible anger while denying forgetting the death date of his son Beau, who died of brain cancer in 2015 at 46.
**Trump's Doctor: Examining Biden's Mental Fitness**
The personal physician to former U.S. Presidents Barack Obama and Donald Trump, Senator Ronny Jackson, stated that President Joe Biden needs to undergo several mental fitness tests before participating in the presidential election. The New York Post reported Jackson saying, "He needs more than just one screening test. He needs a full battery of cognitive tests that are objective, documented, and reported back to the American people by his doctor."
Jackson clarified that he is not suggesting Biden is suffering from a condition like Alzheimer’s but believes Biden's cognitive issues are age-related. Jackson asserted that Biden's forgetfulness, mistakes, and verbal slips indicate that he should not be the person responsible for nuclear weapons in the United States or the fates of nations worldwide.
