Joe Biden says he never meant to keep classified documents; Hur stands by report on President's memory

President Biden's memory and handling of classified documents scrutinized in special counsel interviews, raising questions about his competence and age.

Over five hours of interviews, President Joe Biden repeatedly told a special counsel that he never meant to retain classified information after he left the vice presidency, but it shows he was at times fuzzy about dates and said he was unfamiliar with the paper trail for some of the sensitive documents he handled.

The special counsel, for his part, stood by his assessment of the President's memory as “accurate and fair," in prepared testimony to be delivered to Congress on March 12.

The Associated Press reviewed a transcript of the Mr. Biden interviews, which were being turned over to Congress by the Justice Department on March 12 just hours before the special counsel, Robert Hur, was going before the House Judiciary Committee to face questions about his investigation of Biden.

Mr. Hur, in his report, concluded that Mr. Biden should not face criminal charges over his mishandling of documents but also impugned the President's age and competence.

In prepared remarks, Mr. Hur said: "What I wrote is what I believe the evidence shows, and what I expect jurors would perceive and believe. I did not sanitize my explanation. Nor did I disparage the President unfairly,” he said.

While Biden fumbled some details in his interview, the full transcript could raise questions about Hur's depiction of the 81-year-old president as having “significant limitations” on his memory.

At the same time, it makes plain that the Republican lawyer never asked Mr. Biden about the timing of his son's death, contradicting the president's indignant public objections to that supposed line of questioning.