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Kim Lyons, Florida Phoenix
President Joe Biden is “absolutely in full control,” U.S. Sen. John Fetterman (D-Pa.) said Friday when asked about the president’s age.
The question referenced a special counsel report released Thursday by the U.S. Justice Department, concluding that while Biden, 81, “willfully retained” classified materials following his time as vice president, he would not be charged with a crime.
Special Counsel Robert K. Hur wrote in the 388-page report that prosecutors considered “that, at trial, Mr. Biden would likely present himself to a jury, as he did during our interview of him, as a sympathetic, well-meaning, elderly man with a poor memory.”
During a press call Friday, Fetterman said Hur had an agenda. “You have to remember that you have a Trump appointee,” Fetterman said. “That’s 350 pages to just say that Joe Biden isn’t going to be indicted here. It was just a smear and cheap shot, and just taking things out of context.”
U.S. Rep. Maxwell Frost of Florida was also on the call, and responded to a question about how Biden’s age would impact Democrats running in Congress.
“We know President Biden is old, OK? It doesn’t sound like breaking news to me,” Frost said, then ran down a list of what he described as Biden accomplishments, including the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, reduction of insulin prices, and establishing the first Office of Gun Violence Prevention.
“So now our job is we talk about what’s been done, which is great, and we have an eye forward toward what comes after that,” Frost said. “And I think that helps everybody down ballot, whether you’re a member of Congress or your city council member running for state legislature, so this is a great record to run on.”
Biden himself responded angrily in a press conference Thursday night on some of the special counsel’s assertions. “I know there’s some attention paid to some language in the report about my recollection of events,” Biden said. “There’s even reference that I don’t remember when my son died.”
Hur’s report claims that Biden “did not remember, even within several years, when his son Beau died.”
“How in the hell dare he raise that,” the president said, adding that he still wears his son Beau’s rosary, and that he “does not need anyone to remind me of when he passed away.”
Biden added, “I’m well-meaning and I’m an elderly man, and I know what the hell I’m doing. My memory is fine.”
Florida Phoenix is part of States Newsroom, a network of news bureaus supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. Florida Phoenix maintains editorial independence. Contact Editor Diane Rado for questions: info@floridaphoenix.com. Follow Florida Phoenix on Facebook and Twitter.
