OPINION: This article may contain commentary which reflects the author's opinion.
Even before Special Counsel Robert Hur’s report documenting Joe Biden’s diminished mental capacity and lack of memory came out on Wednesday, an eyewitness who interacted with the president in person last week reported that she found his condition “shocking.”
On Thursday evening, Fox News host Laura Ingraham discussed Hur’s findings with contributor and former House Speaker Newt Gingrich, noting at one point during the segment that Democrats were already refuting Hur’s characterizations of Biden’s mental capacity by remarkably claiming that he did not display any shortcomings in their presence.
Ingraham noted that Sen. Mark Kelly (D-Ariz.) claimed to CNN that he had not seen any signs that Biden had “poor memory,” while Sen. Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.) said, “I’ve talked to him for hours on end as recently as a couple of months ago,” going on to say he is “as sharp as ever.”
“I mean, Newt, come on,” Ingraham said, before adding:
I have it on good authority…a friend of mine was in the White House a couple of weeks ago, and she is not a Trump fan, let me just say this… She was up close and personal with the president, and was shocked — her words were ‘shocked’ about his state.
WATCH:
Laura Ingraham drops a bombshell: Reveals that a close friend of hers visited the White House days ago and saw Biden firsthand.
Her friend described Biden's declined mental state as no less than "shocking."
Shame on the Biden family for subjecting us to this. pic.twitter.com/JD4y6RVqt4
— USA Features Media (@UsaFeatures) February 9, 2024
Hur’s documentation of Biden’s substantial loss of mental capacity will also renew arguments among what is now a large majority of Americans — based on the most recent surveys — that they do not believe the president can serve another four-year term, much less serve out his current term.
Just the news notes:
Hur’s 388-page report released Thursday may have spared Biden the spectacle of a criminal prosecution similar to that his Justice Department imposed on Donald Trump, but it delivered a devastating blow to the 46th president’s re-election hopes by going out of its way to explain criminal charges weren’t levied in part because jurors might see Biden as a dottering, forgetful old man incapable of criminal intent.
“Mr. Biden will likely present himself to the jury, as he did during his interview with our office, as a sympathetic, well-meaning, elderly man with a poor memory,” Hur wrote in explaining his rationale for refusing prosecution. “…It would be difficult to convince a jury they should convict him – by then a former president who will be at least well into his eighties – of a serious felony that requires a mental state of willfulness.”
“Our investigation uncovered evidence that President Biden willfully retained and disclosed classified materials after his vice presidency when he was a private citizen,” the report concluded.
Hur added for good measure he believed Biden suffered from “diminished faculties in advancing age.”
“Every time he (Biden) talks, he’s confused,” Rep. Rich McCormick, R-Ga., a Marine and former emergency room doctor, told Just the News. “If he’s not taken by the arm and shown where to go, he doesn’t know where to walk. He could be at the White House and try to go through the wrong entrance. He could be on stage and not know which direction to go. He doesn’t know who’s standing next to him. He doesn’t even know where he’s going.
“This is just a confused old man. Now, the whole problem with the whole prosecution issue is I’m more concerned about presidential decisions,” he noted further, according to the outlet. “We’re talking about a guy who has the keys to nuclear arms. You’re talking about a guy who makes decisions on who to attack and who to defend, and who to support and has to make a defense of our policy – foreign and domestic.
“This is a guy who couldn’t sell his plan to anybody right now. I think the Democrats are starting to realize that in a very real way,” he added.
