Last night, Special Counsel Robert Hur cleared President Biden from criminal contempt after retaining classified documents but not cleared from being cognitively compromised.
Hur’s report came out that Biden “willfully retained and disclosed classified materials” but the evidence did not support Biden being prosecuted. The counsel acknowledged a difficulty prosecuting him,”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.”
In his interviews with the special counsel about his handling of classified materials, Biden had trouble pinpointing when his son Beau passed away, when his vice presidency ended and the date of a crucial debate about troops in Afghanistan.
An impromptu Address to the Nation was scheduled by Biden and his team to respond to the report. In a primetime address, Biden came out to an awaiting country that wanted to be assured that he could do the job. Instead, he showed the nation a news conference that was full of gaffes and angry responses which spired out of control.
When a reporter asked about polls showing that the majority of Americans have concerns about his age, he yelled back at the reporter, “That is your judgment, That is your judgment.” He also referred to the President of Egypt, Abdel Fattah el-Sissi as the “President of Mexico.”
This put the President’s mental capacity at the forefront of political conversation across the nation. And, it raises the public’s concern on whether he is fit to hold the office of Presidency.
According to an NBC poll conducted last Thursday before the report came out, 62% of Americans indicated that they had “major concerns” about “Joe Biden not having the necessary mental and physical health to be president for a second term.”
People on both sides of the aisle ringed on the President’s mental acuity and how it will affect his campaign.
Democratic strategist David Axelrod explained after Thursday’s conference, “This is a stubborn problem for the campaign going forward.” Republican Strategist and CNN commentator Scott Jennings debated that now Vice-President Kamala Harris is “squarely” a campaign issue. “There aren’t too many Americans who are gonna look at this and say, ‘This guy is up to serving for five more years as president of the United States.”
With the General Election less than nine months away, voters will soon get to choose and decide whether the President is fit or not fit to serve another four years.