Re: White House goes on attack against special counsel over Biden age, memory

[My name is Beau...Britches...I think.]

In article <1c0a78d2-a72d-4756...@googlegroups.com>
Molly Bolt <mollyth...@gmail.com> wrote:

> Biden is an idiot. Everyone knows that.

The White House went on the attack Friday against a special counsel
report that gave Republicans and critics of President Biden new
ammunition to go after his age and fitness for office.

Ian Sams, the spokesperson for the White House counsel’s office who
rarely appears at the briefing room podium, blasted “gratuitous”
passages in the report by special counsel Robert Hur that
characterized Biden as an elderly man with memory problems.

Sams pointedly criticized the report, which recommended no charges
against Biden for his handling of classified documents, for the
age-related remarks seized upon by Republicans.

“When the inevitable conclusion is that the facts and the evidence
don’t support any charges, you’re left to wonder why this report
spends time making gratuitous and inappropriate criticisms of the
president,” Sams said.

The White House in general on Friday suggested the pointed sections
about Biden’s age and memory represented a political attack.

Sams did not target Hur’s motivation in his remarks, but speaking
earlier, Vice President Harris described it as a “politically
motivated” report and attacked Hur’s integrity. Hur was appointed to
a position in government by former President Trump, though he was
appointed as special counsel by Attorney General Merrick Garland.

“So the way the president’s demeanor in that report was
characterized could not be more wrong on the facts, and clearly
politically motivated,” Harris said. “And so I will say, when it
comes to the role and responsibility of a prosecutor in a situation
like that, we should expect that there would be a higher level of
integrity than what we saw.”

Biden spoke out angrily about the report in a televised appearance
before reporters Thursday night. But during that appearance, he also
stumbled, confusing the president of Egypt with the president of
Mexico.

The president lashed out at the special counsel for including
comments about his memory and he appeared to get emotional in
bashing the part of the report that Hur claims Biden forgot when his
son, Beau Biden, died.

Age has become a huge political issue for the 81-year-old president,
who is likely to face 77-year-old former President Trump in
November.

Polls consistently show voters hold doubts about Biden’s fitness for
office, and Hur’s report gave ample ammunition to Trump and his
allies to go on the attack.

Sams argued the general public would understand Hur’s report
included inappropriate comments.

“I think the public is smart, I think they can see what is going
on,” he said.

“I think they can understand, you know, when people … make comments
that they shouldn’t make and are beyond the remit of a prosecutor to
do, I think they understand that,” Sams added. “I think they
understand that … the president did the right thing here.”

The White House has pushed back on polls that show voters think
Biden is too old for a second term, pointing instead to his
accomplishments as president.

Biden met with Hur in the days immediately following the Oct. 7
Hamas attack on Israel.

When questioned why Biden didn’t postpone the interview because he
was busy, Sams said, “the president was going to commit to being
corporative.”

Sams also claimed the special counsel remarked at the time that he
knew the president was dealing with a lot at the beginning of their
interview.

Biden, in his remarks Thursday, angrily defended his memory and
lashed out at the special counsel for including information about
his memory during interviews.

https://thehill.com/homenews/administration/4458991-white-house-
ian-sams-special-counsel-report/