7 Examples of Biden's 'Significantly Limited' Memory from Special Counsel Hur's Report

Charges will not be brought against President Joe Biden despite “evidence that President Biden willfully retained and disclosed classified materials after his vice presidency when he was a private citizen,” among which are military and national security information, special counsel Robert Hur’s report reveals. The report also suggests that Biden’s memory deficiency played a role in this decision and highlights several examples.

The Hur report suggests that a key component of the conclusion not to prosecute was Biden’s cognitive decline and “significantly limited” memory. “It would be difficult to convince a jury that they should convict him—by then a former president well into his eighties—of a serious felony that requires a mental state of willfulness,” he wrote.

This, of course, begs the question of how a president whose mental state is so weak he could not stand trial should continue as the leader of the free world. In fact, as I wrote here, those pulling his strings behind the scenes, knowing full well his state but wanting to maintain political power, should be held responsible for elder abuse.

I have pulled seven references directly from the special counsel’s report that speak to Biden’s memory deficiency:

1. In addition, Mr. Biden's memory was significantly limited, both during his recorded interviews with the ghostwriter in 2017, and in his interview with our office in 2023.

2. We have also considered that, at trial, Mr. Biden would likely present himself to a jury, as he did during our interview of him, as a sympathetic, well-meaning, elderly man with a poor memory.

3. Mr. Biden's memory also appeared to have significant limitations—both at the time he spoke to Zwonitzer in 2017, as evidenced by their recorded conversations, and today, as evidenced by his recorded interview with our office. Mr. Biden's recorded conversations with Zwonitzer from 2017 are often painfully slow, with Mr. Biden struggling to remember events and straining at times to read and relay his own notebook entries.

4. In his interview with our office, Mr. Biden's memory was worse. He did not remember when he was vice president, forgetting on the first day of the interview when his term ended ("if it was 2013 - when did I stop being Vice President?"), and forgetting on the second day of the interview when his term began ("in 2009, am I still Vice President?"). He did not remember, even within several years, when his son Beau died.

5. And his memory appeared hazy when describing the Afghanistan debate that was once so important to him. Among other things, he mistakenly said he "had a real difference" of opinion with General Karl Eikenberry, when, in fact, Eikenberry was an ally whom Mr. Biden cited approvingly in his Thanksgiving memo to President Obama.

6. Third, as discussed to some extent above, Mr. Biden will likely present himself to the jury, as he did during his interview with our office, as a sympathetic, well-meaning, elderly man with a poor memory. … It would be difficult to convince a jury they should convict him—by then a former president who will be at least well into his eighties—of a serious felony that requires a mental state of willfulness.

7. For these jurors, Mr. Biden's apparent lapses and failures in February and April 2017 will likely appear consistent with the diminished faculties and faulty memory he showed in Zwonitzer's interview recordings and in our interview of him.

I have nothing but compassion—and prayer—for anyone experiencing cognitive decline. Unfortunately, I have witnessed its effects up close, so, unlike some, I don’t find it comical. However, I also do not believe that a person in such a condition should be positioned as President of the United States. Had we not already recognized the decline—which we, of course, all have—this report makes it clear.