Shorlty before special counsel Robert Hur was scheduled to testify before congress news outlets obtained a copy of the transcript of Biden’s interview in October 2023.
President Biden found himself entangled in a web of memory lapses, confusing key dates, and providing rambling explanations. This conversation revealed more than just the stress of being under the legal microscope; it provided a candid glimpse into the challenges of public memory and the pressures of high office.
President Biden’s struggle to recall the precise year his son Beau tragically passed away from brain cancer, and the year Donald Trump was elected president, highlighting his cognitive decline. During the interview, Biden inadvertently brought up his late son while discussing why he retained sensitive papers after his vice presidency ended in 2017.
Beau had passed away in 2015 when being asked about a series of events in 2017.
From the New York Post:
During a discussion of why he kept sensitive papers after leaving the vice presidency in 2017, Biden launched into a rambling explanation in which he said Beau, who died in 2015, was “deployed or is dying” after he left office in 2017.
“I don’t know. This is, what, 2017, 2018, that area?” Biden, who turned 81 in November, queried during the first of two days of questioning by Hur on Oct. 8 — when asked “where did you keep papers” after leaving office as vice president “when you were living at Chain Bridge Road” in northern Virginia.
“Remember, in this timeframe, my son is — either been deployed or is dying, and, and so it was — and by the way, there were still a lot of people at the time when I got out of the Senate that were encouraging me to run in this period, except the President,” Biden said, referring to President Barack Obama.
“I’m not — and not a mean thing to say. He just thought that she [Hillary Clinton] had a better shot of winning the presidency than I did.”
Biden proceeded to ask: “What month did Beau die? Oh, God, May 30 —“
The transcript directly refutes what the President said in February when the report first broke.
“There’s even some reference that I don’t remember when my son died,” the president said on Feb. 8. “How the hell dare he raise that? Frankly, when I was asked the question, I thought to myself it wasn’t any of their damned business.”
