Vice President Kamala Harris on Friday forcefully pushed back against a special counsel report that cast doubt on President Biden’s memory, calling it “politically motivated.”
“The way the president’s behavior has been described in this report could not be more inaccurate in relation to the facts and clearly more politically motivated,” Ms. Harris said in response to questions from reporters at the White House.
She also said Mr. Biden sat down for face-to-face interviews with the special counsel’s office just a day after the Hamas attack on Israel on Oct. 7.
“It was an intense moment for the commander in chief of the United States of America,” Ms. Harris said. “He was on the front lines, coordinating and directing those responsible for America’s national security.”
The vice president’s first comments on the report offered a glimpse into the White House’s approach after special counsel Robert K. Hur’s report on Mr. Biden’s handling of classified documents concluded that he was a “well-meaning, elderly person “ was a “man with a poor memory” and that his abilities had “decreased with advancing age”.
Her comments suggest that the White House plans to view the report as a partisan memo rather than a legal document.
The release of the report on Thursday forced the White House to do immediate damage control, with the president holding a quickly organized news conference to refute its conclusions about his mental capacity.
The report found that Mr. Biden “willfully” withheld and disclosed classified material after leaving the vice presidential office in 2017, but concluded that “no criminal charges are warranted.” But those conclusions were almost immediately overshadowed by the characterization of Mr. Biden’s memory.
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2024-02-09 18:47:27
www.nytimes.com