Biden-Hur exchange over Beau’s death reveals complex situation

(Washington) The White House knew it had a political problem on its hands when a special counsel report called into question President Joe Biden’s memory last month, but Biden also saw a much more personal affront .

Robert Hur, who had been charged with investigating whether Mr. Biden mishandled classified documents, wrote that the president could not remember in an interview with prosecutors the date his son adult, Beau, died of cancer. It was a shocking assertion about a key event in Joe Biden’s life, and it fueled speculation that the 81-year-old president is unfit to serve another term.

“How the hell dare he bring that up?” ” Biden said angrily at a hastily arranged press conference after the report’s release. “Frankly, when I was asked the question, I told myself that it was none of their business. »

The reality of the exchange, however, is more complex than either Mr. Biden or Mr. Hur let on, according to a transcript of the interview released Tuesday ahead of the former special counsel’s testimony on Capitol Hill.

Robert Hur did not ask the president about his son’s death; Mr. Biden brought it up himself during a discussion about how he stored documents in a rental house in Virginia after leaving the vice president’s office in 2017.

And Biden recalled the precise date that Beau died, although he briefly wondered aloud about the year as the conversation switched between various events.

“What month did Beau die?” he asked himself. Oh, my God, May 30th. »

A White House lawyer interjected, saying “2015.”

“Was it 2015 that he died? » asked Joe Biden. When someone responded in the affirmative, the president added, “It was 2015.”

Interpretations differ

Joe Biden’s aides defended the president’s inaccurate characterization of the interview during his news conference last month, calling his response visceral and emotional. And they said his exchange with Mr. Hur demonstrated the importance President Biden placed on how his son’s death affected his decision-making in the following years.

Mr. Hur, in his testimony before the House Judiciary Committee, said his report’s discussion of Joe Biden’s memory was “necessary, accurate and fair” because his state of mind was an important element in assessing if he had committed a crime.

“I did not water down my explanation or unfairly denigrate the president,” he said.

Asked why Mr. Biden angrily accused Hur of bringing up his son’s death when the transcript shows otherwise, White House spokesman Ian Sams said the president had was asked about Beau in general, including the book the president wrote about his death and his son’s inspired cancer initiative.

“He found it outrageous and inappropriate that this report included such an inappropriate and extraneous comment like that, especially when it is clear he was talking about the day his son died,” Mr. Sams said. So I think you saw the anger and the emotional response of a father who still feels the pain of this loss every day. »

The transcript released Tuesday sheds new light on one of the most politically and personally sensitive episodes of Mr. Biden’s term.

Although the special prosecutor’s investigation found no basis for criminal charges against Mr. Biden — unlike Donald Trump, who was indicted for refusing to return classified documents to the federal government — the references to his memory threaten the president’s ability to assure voters that he can continue to do his job until he is 86.

Beau Biden’s death left its mark

Beau was attorney general of Delaware and widely considered his father’s political heir when he was diagnosed with a brain tumor. The cancer, which Mr. Biden links to his son’s National Guard service near toxic burn pits on military bases in Iraq, was devastating for a family that had already suffered tragedy decades earlier.

Shortly after Joe Biden was elected to the Senate in 1972, his first wife and infant daughter were killed in a car accident that also seriously injured Beau and his younger brother Hunter.

Beau died while Mr. Biden was vice president, and his deep sadness dissuaded him from running for president in 2016, when Donald Trump defeated Hillary Clinton.

President Biden mentioned the death during an interview with Hur on October 8. They were discussing where Joe Biden kept documents he was “actively working on” at his home in Virginia.

The president responded by going back a few years to explain that “during this period, [son fils] was deployed or was dying.”

After a brief exchange on the specific date, Joe Biden began talking about writing his book Promise Me, Dadpublished in 2017.

“It’s personal,” he said, explaining that “Beau was like [son] right arm and Hunt was [son] LEFT. »

Mr. Hur offered Mr. Biden a break at that point, but the president insisted on continuing with a long story about his family. Joe Biden explained how Beau, after being diagnosed with cancer, made him promise not to step away from public life.

President Biden concluded he couldn’t handle another run for president, but would stay involved. However, in a story that Mr. Biden has often told at fundraisers, he walked back that decision after the white supremacist rally in Charlottesville, Virginia, in 2017 and Trump’s response that he had “very good people on both sides.”

Mr. Biden had said he was the antithesis of everything the man stood for and that he could beat him.

As he finished his story, Mr. Biden wondered aloud whether Robert Hur needed such a long response.

“Sorry for the detail,” Mr. Biden apologized.

“No apology is necessary,” Mr. Hur replied.

Associated Press White House correspondent Zeke Miller and writer Seung Min Kim