WASHINGTON – Vice President Kamala Harris on Friday criticized special counsel Robert Hur for questioning President Biden’s mental fitness in a stunning report on his handling of classified records; The vice president said Hur lacked “integrity” and was “politically motivated” before saying Biden was focused on the Hamas attack on Israel on Oct. 7 when he appeared confused to Hur’s investigators during two days of interviews.
Harris, 59, was asked if she “as a former prosecutor” thought Hur’s report was “fair” to Biden, 81, who is seeking a second term in the November election.
“I’m glad you asked,” Harris said as she stood visibly at a podium near the White House after an event focused on gun violence prevention.
“Listen, I have had the privilege and pride of serving as Vice President of the United States with Joe Biden as President of the United States. and what I saw [in] That report last night, I believe, is: As a former prosecutor, the comments that prosecutor made were gratuitous, inaccurate and inappropriate,” Harris began.
“October 7: Israel experienced a horrific attack. And I will tell you that we received the calls, the president and I in the hours after that happened,” he said.
Biden was interviewed by Hur’s team for five hours on October 8 and 9.
Special Counsel Robert Hur questioned President Biden’s mental fitness. AP
“It was an intense moment for the commander in chief of the United States of America, and I was in almost every meeting with the president in the hours and days that – countless hours with the Secretary of Defense, the Secretary of State, the heads of our intelligence community,” Harris continued.
“And the president was front and center, asking questions and demanding that the U.S. military, intelligence community and diplomatic community find out and know how many people had died. How many are Americans? How many hostages? Is the situation stable? He was at the forefront of everything, coordinating and directing the leaders who are in charge of America’s national security, not to mention our allies around the world, for days and, so far, months.”
Harris, who will become president if Biden has to leave office for health or other reasons, concluded with another slap to Hur.
Vice President Kamala Harris described Hur’s report as “gratuitous.” AP
“So the way the president’s conduct was characterized in that report could not be more factually flawed and clearly politically motivated and gratuitous,” the former San Francisco district attorney and California attorney general said.
“So I will say that when it comes to the role and responsibility of a prosecutor in a situation like that, we should expect there to be a higher level of integrity than what we saw.”
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Hur’s report described Biden as amassing classified documents dating to his time as a senator and his vice presidency, but said he should not face criminal charges, in part because he would present to jurors “as he did during our interview, as a sympathetic old man.” , well-intentioned and with a bad memory.”
Harris did not explain Friday how Hamas’ attack on Israel could have caused Biden to forget, as Hur’s report said, “when he was vice president” as well as “when his son Beau died.”
Biden lashed out at Hur’s characterization at a news conference Thursday night, but ended up compounding questions about his mental fitness by identifying Abdel Fattah El-Sisi, Egypt’s president, as Mexico’s leader, after a trio of errors over the past week as he recalled recent conversations with long-dead leaders of Germany and France.
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Source: vtt.edu.vn