Joe Biden forgot what a fax machine was called when interviewed by prosecutors over classified files, a transcript has revealed.
New documents, released to US media, show the president failing to recall the name of the machine that transmits images of documents over phone lines.
He also forgot the name of the federal agency that takes custody of official records — the National Archives.The transcript is the basis for an official report by special counsel Robert Hur that described Mr Biden as an “elderly man with a poor memory” but did not recommend he be charged over classified documents found in his garage.
Mr Hur is set to testify to Congress today after resigning from the Department of Justice, in what could be a damaging day of evidence for Mr Biden.
His original report found that Mr Biden “wilfully” retained troves of files but Mr Hur declined to charge him with a crime. It also claimed Mr Biden did not remember when he was vice president or the date his son, Beau, died.
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Calling Biden’s memory ‘poor’ was ‘accurate and fair’, says former prosecutor
The US prosecutor who sparked a political firestorm last month with a report saying President Joe Biden had a “poor memory” has defended his assessment in prepared remarks ahead of testimony to a Republican-led congressional committee.
“My assessment in the report about the relevance of the president’s memory was necessary and accurate and fair,” said Robert Hur, a former US special counsel, in his prepared opening statement. “I did not sanitize my explanation. Nor did I disparage the president unfairly. I explained to the attorney general my decision and the reasons for it. That’s what I was required to do.”
Mr Hur will answer questions from the House of Representatives judiciary committee, which has been one of the panels conducting an impeachment inquiry into Mr Biden.
Proceedings are expected to get under way at 10 am ET (2 pm GMT).
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