WASHINGTON — United States Vice President Kamala Harris declared herself fit to govern amid criticism of President Joe Biden for his continued lapses, especially after a report on the withholding of classified documents portrayed him as a “well-intentioned and irretentive”.
“I am prepared to govern. There is no doubt about it,” Harris said during an interview conducted last week aboard the presidential plane ‘Air Force Two’ with The Wall Street Journal, but published this Monday. She added that everyone who knows how she works knows her leadership “ability.”
Harris’ remarks came two days before special counsel Robert Hur concluded in a report that Biden’s memory is “significantly limited.” However, criticism of Biden’s ability to govern due to his age and memory has occurred since the 2020 election campaign, but has increased recently due to episodes of disorientation at public events, confusion at the time to appoint leaders, and to fall in public.
The biggest alarm
The publication describes the memory of President Biden, 81, as “blurred,” “flawed,” “poor” and with “significant limitations.”
The biggest alarm sounded when special prosecutor Hur estimated that the current president’s memory is so impaired that he does not even remember What date was he vice president? y When did his son Beau die, who died of cancer in 2015?.
If re-elected, Biden would take office for a second term at age 82 and finish at age 86.
Although the special prosecutor ruled out filing charges against Biden for the case of withholding classified documents, the White House charged him for the “gratuitous and inappropriate” criticism of the 81-year-old president’s mental acuity.
The Justice Department, which confirmed that Biden will not face charges, is moving forward against former President Donald Trump in a similar case.
After the publication of the report, Biden stated in a press conference that his memory was “fine”, although shortly after in the same conference he confused the Mexican president, Andrés Manuel López Obrador, with the Egyptian, Abdelfatá al Sisi, again fueling the suspicions. criticism about his state of health, something that worries Democrats a few months before the electoral campaign and in the absence of visible leadership for the replacement.
Harris herself stated in statements to the press that Hur’s comments, specifically about the date of her son Beau’s death, were “gratuitous, inaccurate and inappropriate.” “When it comes to the role and responsibility of a prosecutor in a situation like that, we should expect there to be a higher level of integrity than what we saw,” in her opinion.
Harris aspires to be re-elected to the vice presidency.
Biden’s advanced age is becoming a central issue in the November presidential election campaign and has focused the spotlight on Harris, who would succeed him if Biden were to resign or become incapacitated.
Biden’s serious mental lapses
“A man too incapable to be held accountable for mismanagement of classified information certainly not fit for the Oval Office“said the president of the House of Representatives, Republican Mike Johnson.
The White House said it was “satisfied” with the decision not to file charges against Biden, 81, but disagreed “with a series of inaccurate and inappropriate comments in the special counsel’s report.”
Hur was appointed in January 2023 by Attorney General Merrick Garland after hundreds of secret documents were found in a Biden home in Wilmington, Delaware, and in a former office. They date from when he was vice president (2009-2017) in Barack Obama’s government, a power that no vice president of the nation has. That is to say, it is absolutely illegal for a vice president to take any classified official document for his personal file.
The 388-page report claims that Biden has “intentionally withheld and disclosed classified materials” after leaving the vice presidency, long before defeating Trump in 2020.
Hur, previously appointed by Trump as chief prosecutor for the state of Maryland, explains that FBI agents recovered several boxes of documents on military affairs and foreign policy in Afghanistan, among other matters of great relevance and directly related to national security.
“We conclude that the evidence is not enough to convict him and we excluded recommendations to prosecute Biden for having withheld classified documents from Afghanistan and other matters,” he said.
He also ruled out that a jury wants to convict Biden.
To the investigators he seemed like a “sympathetic, well-intentioned old man with a bad memory,” he emphasizes, and considers it “difficult to convince a jury that they should convict him” when he is over 80 years old.
Source: With information from Europa Press and AFP
