Attorney General Merrick Garland faithfully delivered the narrative about President Joe Biden’s health in testimony before the House Appropriations Committee.
Garland insisted Biden has “no impairment” when grilled about special counsel Robert Hur’s report on the investigation of the president’s mishandling of classified materials.
During Wednesday’s hearing on the Justice Department’s Fiscal Year 2025 budget, the attorney general seemed reluctant to directly answer questions about Biden’s mental abilities as he was asked about Hur’s report which characterized the 81-year-old president as a “sympathetic, well-meaning, elderly man with a poor memory.”
“I’ve said before, and I’ll say again with respect to the report that it’s improper for the attorney general to editorialize,” Garland told Rep. Ben Cline (R-Va.)
Attorney General Garland to @repbencline: “The president has no impairment…I have complete confidence in the president and I reject your characterization.” pic.twitter.com/R8DXGgsBGV
— CSPAN (@cspan) April 16, 2024
“I take that separately from the question you’re asking and ask if you’re asking about my own observations about the president,” Garland continued., telling Cline, “I have complete confidence in the president.”
“I have seen the president effectively guide members of the department of his Cabinet and his military,” he asserted as Cline continued to press him about whether he has ever seen Biden show any signs of “impairment.”
“The president has no impairment,” a visibly irritated Garland replied. “I don’t know how many ways I can say this. I have complete confidence in the president and I reject your characterization.”
Hur had concluded after his investigation that he would not bring any criminal charges against the president, suggesting 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.”
That characterization infuriated Democrats and the president himself who raged at a press conference after the report’s release.
“I’m well-meaning and I’m an elderly man and I know what the hell I’m doing,” Biden said angrily. “I’ve been president. I put this country back on its feet. I don’t need his recommendation.”
Serious calls for Biden to be yanked under 25th Amend. after special counsel finds him too senile to be charged with his crimes https://t.co/2WoJVqW5Jx via @BIZPACReview
— BPR based (@DumpstrFireNews) February 9, 2024
In another exchange with Rep. Joe Morelle (D-NY), Garland emphasized his confidence in Biden’s abilities.
“I have complete confidence in the president,” Garland said.
“I have watched him expertly guide meetings of staff and Cabinet members on issues of foreign affairs and military strategy and policy in the incredibly complex world in which we now face and in which he has been decisive in instructions to the staff and decisive in making the decisions necessary to protect the country,” he added.
“Likewise,” he continued, “with respect to domestic policy discussions — these are intricate, complicated questions that he has guided all of us through in order to reach results that are helpful and important and beneficial to the American people.”
The attorney general accused Rep. Mike Garcia (R-Calif.) of paraphrasing Hur, contending that the justification for not charging Biden “was that he was cognitively incapable of understanding what he was doing and he was too old to face charges.”
“That is not at all what Mr. Hur said,” Garland insisted. “And I urge everyone to read again what he said. He did not say anything like that.”
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Author: Frieda Powers
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