Attorney General Merrick Garland defended President Joe Biden, claiming that he has not shown signs of “impairment” while answering questions before a House committee on Tuesday.
Garland testified before a House committee overseeing funding for the Justice Department and was forced to answer a series of questions about the report from special counsel Robert Hur’s investigation of Biden’s handling of classified materials, in which Hur criticized the president’s memory.
When asked about Hur’s analysis, the attorney general attempted to pivot away from the question, emphasizing, “It is improper for the attorney general to editorialize.”
“I take that separately from the question you’re asking about my own observations about the president,” Garland said in response to questions from Rep. Ben Cline (R-VA). “I have complete confidence in the president.”
“I have seen the president effectively guide members of the department of his Cabinet and his military — the president has no impairment,” Garland said.
Throughout his report, Hur painted a picture of Biden that Republicans continue to use against the president, describing him as a person who had been struggling with memory troubles. In one line from the report, Hur wrote that 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.”
Biden and his aides rejected that assessment. During a defiant press conference, Biden angrily insisted his memory was fine and was especially enraged over mentions of him being confused about the timing of the death of his son.
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Garland’s response to questions about Biden’s mental fitness was his most extensive defense of the president since the report was released. The attorney general sidestepped questions about whether he believed descriptions of Biden’s mental fitness were accurately reflected in the report.
“I don’t know how many ways I can say this, I have complete confidence in the president, and I reject your characterization,” Garland said in response to a follow-up from Cline.
