ARTICLE AD BOX
Audio of President Joe Biden’s 2023 interview with Special Counsel Robert Hur concerning the improper possession of classified documents has been released more than a year after his administration released transcripts.
The recordings, published by Axios, reveal the extent to which the 46th president, then 80, struggled to remember key details and dates, was prompted by his lawyers, and spoke in a halting, whispering voice, punctuated by long silences.
It sheds light on why the White House refused to release the recordings while he was still in office amid questions regarding his mental acuity, and also perhaps why Hur’s conclusion was that jurors in any trial that might arise over his possession of the documents in question would have viewed him as a “sympathetic, well-meaning, elderly man with a poor memory.”
At the time, the White House hit back at Hur’s assessment of the president, insisting he was “sharp” and that any attacks on Biden were politically motivated — yet the special counsel comes across as respectful, and the tone of the interview is friendly and mostly appears relaxed.
The release of the audio comes ahead of the publication of a new book about a White House and presidential campaign hiding the decline of the president as he ran for another term in office. Original Sin by Axios’ Alex Thompson and CNN’s Jake Tapper will be released on Tuesday.
During the two three-hour sessions with Hur and his co-counsel Marc Kricknaum, Biden’s attorneys had to remind him of the year his son Beau died and the year that Donald Trump was elected president for the first time — 2015 and 2016, respectively.
Where the recordings add a new dimension to what is already known from the transcripts is the length of pauses and the slowly unfolding nature of some answers. Further emphasizing these silent moments from the president is the sound of a ticking clock in the background.
Nevertheless, Biden remains engaged despite memory lapses. At times, Axios notes, he cracks jokes and makes humorous asides, and throughout, he “sounded more like a nostalgic, grandfatherly storyteller than a potential defendant who could be accused of hoarding secret papers.”
Perhaps the upshot of the basis of the interview was that he had little recollection as to how or why he came to have classified documents in his possession after his two terms as vice president to President Barack Obama.
More follows...
English (US) ·