An MSNBC reporter reality-checked anchor Joe Scarborough on why Special Counsel Robert Hur noted President Joe Biden’s “poor memory” in his report relating to his personal possession of classified documents.
Hur wrote in his report, released Thursday, that Biden is a “well-meaning elderly man with a poor memory,” noting he forgot when he served as vice president and when his son, Beau, died. The special counsel said that while Biden willfully kept classified material in his personal possession, Hur concluded that “no criminal charges are warranted.”
Scarborough, who has staunchly defended Biden’s mental capacity, said Hur’s accusation is “Trump-like.”
“We kinda need to stop there. A neurologist, Hur, from Trump University. I mean, I’m sorry, I gotta stop right here. I know we want to go on and finish this report but, I just gotta start. Ken Dilanian, so bizarre and there’s so many people that immediately heard these random, random conclusions. Irreverent conclusions, politically charged, Trump-like ramblings who, first all, wondered, why in the world would he put that in a report, his neurological assessment of Joe Biden? And secondly, why Merrick Garland would release garbage like that in the Justice Department report? Can you give us any insight? Because it sounds like James Comey in 2016, who couldn’t indict Hillary Clinton legally so he had to hold a press conference and indict her politically.”
“Joe, I understand where you’re coming from on that, I think a lot of people feel that way,” Dilanian said. “But let me give you the explanation that I have heard from Justice Department officials and why that was in there, though it did seem gratuitous to a lot of people. If Rob Hur is saying I have evidence that Joe Biden willfully retained classified information, then in fact, he didn’t just find those documents in 2022 like we all thought. He actually found them in 2017 and he’s recorded saying that to his ghostwriter. So why isn’t he charging him? Well, he has to explain that. So the explanation is Joe Biden said he didn’t remember.”
“He was recorded saying ‘I found classified documents in my house in Virginia’ to the ghostwriter. He’s recorded disclosing classified information to the ghostwriter, according to this report,” he continued. “But he says he forgot that. So Rob Hur has to explain that in fact, the larger context here is that Mr. Biden has forgotten a lot of things.” (RELATED: Andy McCarthy Says There’s Enough Evidence To Invoke 25th Amendment In New Report About Biden’s Classified Docs Case)
Scarborough raged against Hur’s assessment by calling his conclusion a mistake on social media Thursday night.
“How remarkable that a special counsel who was both an attorney AND a neurologist could mistakenly write that Biden willfully took these documents before admitting a few hundred pages later that he had no evidence on the point,” Scarborough said.
How remarkable that a special counsel who was both an attorney AND a neurologist could mistakenly write that Biden willfully took these documents before admitting a few hundred pages later that he had no evidence on the point. https://t.co/MPv8B9Eh61
— Joe Scarborough (@JoeNBC) February 8, 2024
He accused Hur of attempting to “politically” charge Biden ahead of the 2024 presidential election.
He couldn’t indict Biden legally so he tried to indict Biden politically. https://t.co/zWhzMgDSq3
— Joe Scarborough (@JoeNBC) February 8, 2024
Voters have raised major concerns about the president’s “necessary mental and physical health” necessary to serve a second term. An NBC News poll found that 62% of voters have “major concerns” about the president’s mental health. Another NBC News poll found that voters’ perceptions of Biden’s competency and effectiveness dropped from 47% to 32% since the 2020 election.