Biden slams special counsel Hur for raising son Beau’s death
Video with this story is from President Joe Biden’s news conference on the night of Feb. 8, 2024.
(CNN) — President Joe Biden forcefully rejected the suggestion that he had trouble remembering when his son, Beau, had died, as special counsel Robert Hur claimed in his scathing report released Thursday.
“How in the hell dare he raise that,” a visibly angry Biden said Thursday night from the Diplomatic Reception Room in the White House, where he delivered hastily scheduled remarks to address the special counsel’s report on his handling of classified documents. “Frankly, when I was asked that question, I thought to myself, ‘Wasn’t any of their damn business.’”
“I don’t need anyone to remind me when he passed away,” Biden added, appearing emotional as he referenced a rosary he wears that had belonged to Beau.
“Every Memorial Day we hold a service (to) remember him attended by friends and family and the people who loved him,” Biden said, after a pause. “I don’t need anyone – I don’t need anyone to remind me when he passed away.”
Beau Biden, an Iraq War veteran who served as the attorney general of Delaware, died in 2015 after battling brain cancer.
The 345-page report concluded that Biden willfully retained and disclosed classified military and national security information but recommended he not face charges after a yearlong investigation into his handling of classified documents.
The report also mentioned apparent memory lapses, saying investigators found Biden’s “memory was significantly limited” during interviews with his ghostwriter and an interview with Hur’s office last year. According to the report, Biden – during the 2023 interview – did not remember when his son Beau died nor the years he was vice president.
The president, in his remarks, also fired back against Hur’s note that he was not charged in part because a jury could potentially see him as a “well-meaning, elderly man with a poor memory.”
“I am well-meaning. And I’m an elderly man. And I know what the hell I’m doing. I’ve been president – I put this country back on its feet. I don’t need his recommendation,” Biden said.
Pressed by CNN’s by MJ Lee why he’s the best candidate to beat former President Donald Trump, the GOP front-runner, in the 2024 presidential election, given voters’ concern about his age and mental acuity, Biden said he’s the “most qualified person in this country to be president of the United States and finish the job I started.”