US Prez Biden assails special counsel for questioning his mental acuity

By Akayla Gardner

President Joe Biden lambasted the special counsel’s report on his handling of classified information for raising questions about his mental acuity and age — in particular a claim that he could not remember when his son Beau had died. 

“I’m well-meaning, and I’m an elderly man and I know what the hell I’m doing. I’ve been president, and I’ve put this country back on his feet. I don’t need his recommendation,” Biden said on Thursday during an impromptu White House news conference. 

Yet even as he defended himself against a tide of scrutiny about his mental fitness, Biden mistakenly referred to Egyptian President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi as the leader of Mexico.  

Biden defiantly pushed back on the special counsel’s claim that he disclosed classified information. He grew emotional when singled out the assertion that he had forgotten when his son died from cancer.

“How the hell dare he raise that,” Biden said. “I don’t need anyone, to remind me of when he passed away.”

The report by the Justice Department said investigators working for Special Counsel Robert Hur found Biden had knowingly stored and disclosed classified information that was kept at his homes in Virginia and Delaware, but stopped short of charging him with any crimes. 

The most jarring disclosures in the report, though, were descriptions of the president, as an “elderly man with a poor memory,” who struggled on occasions to remember basic facts. Biden, 81, was described as also forgetting when his term as vice president ended and details of critical foreign policy debates during the Obama administration. 

Biden pushed back on those claims Thursday. 

“My memory is fine,” Biden said. “I’m the most qualified person in this country to be President of the United States and finish the job I started.”

The revelations fueled concerns about Biden’s age and fitness as he seeks a second term and followed a difficult week that saw the president make high-profile gaffes where he confused European leaders with their long dead counterparts. 

Voters have said Biden’s age ranks as one of their biggest concerns as he heads into a likely rematch with former President Donald Trump, 77, in November. Trump has also suffered from numerous mental lapses.