‘I’m fine’: Joe Biden defends memory in botched presser

An increasingly embattled Joe Biden has felt compelled to defend his mental ability at an emergency news conference, where the US President embarrassingly confused Mexico and Egypt.

US President Joe Biden speaks about the Special Counsel report in the Diplomatic Reception Room of the White House. Picture: AFP.

An increasingly embattled Joe Biden has felt compelled to defend his record and mental ability at an emergency news conference at the White House, where the US President embarrassingly confused Mexico and Egypt, prompting some Republicans to call for him to resign.

Mr Biden took to the podium hours after special counsel Robert Hur, appointed by his own Attorney-General a year ago, issued a near 400-page report that accused the President of “wilfully” mishandling classified documents and forgetting key details of his life, including the years he was vice president.

An angry Mr Biden came out all guns blazing about 8pm in Washington DC (12pm AEDT), attacking critics of his alleged mental decline and Donald Trump’s handling of classified documents, and offering some unexpected criticism of Israel for a supposedly “over the top” response to Hamas’s terrorist attacks in October.

During a 15-minute appearance that did little to defuse mounting speculation about his declining memory, Mr Biden said: “My memory is fine. Take a look at what I’ve done since I’ve become President, none of us thought I could pass any of the things I got passed.

“As you know initially, the President of Mexico, el-Sisi, didn’t want to open up the gate to allow humanitarian material to get in,” he said towards the end of his remarks about the Israel-Hamas war, referring to Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi.

The President, 81, had earlier fumed at numerous insinuations in Mr Hur’s report that he was an “elderly man with a poor memory” who couldn’t remember when his son Beau had died.

“How dare he raise that?” Mr Biden said, raising his voice. “When I was asked the question, I thought to myself, ‘how was that his damn business?’ ... I don’t need anyone to remind me when he passed away, passed away”.

The President said any perceived lack of recall he might have exhibited in his interviews with Mr Hur last October occurred against the backdrop of Hamas’s attack on Israel a few days earlier.

“I went forward with a five-hour in person interview over two days, on October the 8th and 9th, even though Israel had just been attacked by Hamas,” he said.

The President’s comments came only a few hours after he said separately that he would be a President “for everybody, whether you live in a red state or a green state”, and days since he confused French President Emmanuel Macron with his predecessor Francois Mitterrand, who died in 1995 – two of a long string of gaffes that has fuelled allegations of his declining mental capacity.

Mr Trump’s memory has also been called into question in recent weeks after he mistakenly called Hungrian Prime Minister Viktor Orban “the leader of Turkey”, confused his GOP challenger Nikki Haley and former Democatic house speaker Nancy Pelosi and said that he is running against former president Barack Obama.

Democrats in public led by the party’s national committee chairman, Jaime Harrison, praised Mr Biden’s fiery performance on Sunday, but both the press conference and the special counsel’s report will raise questions about whether Mr Biden will make it to the election.

Given the lateness in the primary voting process and the importance of black female voters in the Democratic base, the most likely replacement for Mr Biden remains his Vice President Kamala Harris. Ms Harris’s approval rating is even lower than the President’s and she fares worse in head-to-head polling against Mr Trump.

Former Florida governor now senator Rick Scott said it was “time for (Mr Biden’s) cabinet to invoke the 25th Amendment (the part of the US Constitution that allows for the removal of an incapacitated president)”.

Republican congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene said: “Joe Biden is unfit to serve as President. Two solutions: 25th Amendment or impeachment.”

Her Republican colleague Mary Miller echoed their remarks. “He could not remember basic facts about his life. He is not competent to remain as Commander-in-Chief and every day that he remains, he puts America at risk” she posted on social media.

In the hastily convened news conference, Mr Biden praised Mr Hur for deciding not to prosecute him for his keeping of classified documents at his home and office.

The President drew attention to the “stark distinction” between the allegations against him and those against Donald Trump, who is facing 37 criminal charges for mishandling classified documents, in a trial scheduled to begin in May.

The President criticised reports that he had wilfully mishandled classified documents, one of the clear findings of the report, as “not only misleading … but just plain wrong”.

Asked why he wouldn’t step down for someone younger, he said: “I’m the most qualified person in this country to be President of United States and finish the job I started.”

On Israel’s military actions in Gaza, Mr Biden said the response had been “over the top”.

“I’m of the view, as you know, that the conduct of the response in Gaza, in the Gaza Strip, has been over the top,” he said

He also confused Mr el-Sisi with Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador, when he discussed aid to Gaza, saying: “As you know, initially the President of Mexico did not want to open up the gate to allow humanitarian material to get in. I talked to him; I convinced him to open the gate.

“I talked to Bibi (Netanyahu) to open the gate on the Israeli side. I’ve been pushing really hard for humanitarian assistance into Gaza where a lot of innocent people are starving, a lot of innocent people are dying.”