Michael Ramirez: Forgetful Joe 02-11-24
From America's Premier Editorial Cartoonist
Super Forgetful
Michael Ramirez, Feb. 11, 2024
President Biden will not face charges in the long-awaited Special Council classified document probe but you wouldn’t know it by the political fallout.
The report found that while President Biden “willfully retained” classified documents, some all the way back to the time he was in the Senate, and he “disclosed classified information”, some to Mark Zwonitzer, the ghostwriter who worked with Biden on two Memoirs, “Promises to Keep” from 2007 and “Promise Me, Dad” from 2017, he would not be charged.
Special Counsel Robert Hur alleged that this information came from diaries and notebooks containing Biden’s notes. Specifically, the report states that Biden read from sections from these private notebooks, which contained classified information, to Zwonitzer, who did not have clearance for the material. Hur alleges that three of the times, Biden read entire sections verbatim. The report equivocates on whether this disclosure rose to the level of a crime and states that no classified material ended up in the memoir. FBI agents recovered the material from Biden’s home in 2023.
In the end, the Special Counsel decided not to pursue charges because he could not prove willful misconduct beyond a reasonable doubt. Legal experts had anticipated that outcome anyway, since Biden and his office have been fully cooperative in the investigation.
Now there are those who believe that these cases with Biden and Trump are the same but they are very different. For those celebrating the Special Council’s report, Special Counsel Hur states that these two cases had “several material distinctions”, noting that Biden and Trump’s responses were far different. Again, most legal analysts agree that President Biden fully cooperated with the investigation.
From the New York Times:
“Most notably, after being given multiple chances to return classified documents and avoid prosecution, Mr. Trump allegedly did the opposite,” Mr. Hur said in the report. “According to the indictment, he not only refused to return the documents for many months, but he also obstructed justice by enlisting others to destroy evidence and then to lie about it.”
“In contrast, Mr. Biden turned in classified documents to the National Archives and the Department of Justice, consented to the search of multiple locations including his homes, sat for a voluntary interview and in other ways cooperated with the investigation.”
Biden avoided the legal indictment but the political indictment was far more damaging
The most damaging aspect of the report was not in the willful retaining and disclosure of classified material but rather, the special counsel’s assessment of Biden’s state of mind when answering questions related to the investigation. Hur’s report describes President Biden as an “elderly man with a poor memory.”
How pertinent is this to an investigation into the mishandling of classified documents? Legal experts on both sides have said they feel the Special Counsel crossed the line commenting on and attacking President Biden’s mental acuity.
A poor memory is not an assessment unique to Biden.
If you recall (or don’t) during the previous Special Counsel investigation, Donald Trump, who had boasted he had the “world’s greatest memory,” answered variations of “I don’t recall” at least 37 times in the Mueller probe. In the Trump University lawsuit deposition, Trump offered different formulations of “I don’t remember” 24 times in a 2012 deposition and 35 times in a related lawsuit three years later.
Trump couldn’t remember his 10,000 square foot apartment was not 30,000 square feet.
In the Trump civil case, Trump’s former CFO, Allen Weisselberg, answered variations of “I don’t remember” or “I don’t recall” over 100 times.
In a deposition on Covid, Dr. Anthony Fauci, the director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, said, “I don’t recall” 174 times.
Is it an age thing? Joe Biden is 81. Donald Trump is 77. Allen Weisselberg is 76. Dr Fauci is 83. Or is it a consequence of a defense mechanism called selective memory?
Neither Weisselberg nor Fauci are running for president of the United States.
It is politically damaging to Biden because it reaffirms an already growing public perception. It is a legitimate question to ask because of his age. Questions of Biden’s mental acuity have plagued him since he was elected.
For those of us who watch politics regularly, questions of Biden’s intelligence have followed him from the time he was a Senator. He has always been gaffe prone and it seems like he has been on the wrong side of every major issue throughout his entire political career.
But his frailty and gait are more pronounced at the end of his first term. He has confused dead leaders Francois Mitterand and Helmet Kohl with their living replacements. In the press conference to refute the Special Council’s report and to prove that his memory is fine, Biden referred to Egyptian President el-Sisi as the president of Mexico.
Questions have arisen about Donald Trump as well.
Trump has confused his Republican rival, Nikki Haley with Nancy Pelosi and called Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban, the leader of Turkey. At times he seems to address our allies as enemies and address our enemies as friends. Just yesterday, he encouraged Russia to attack our allies in NATO.
Donald Trump and Joe Biden are already the oldest presidents running for a second term in American history. As I have said before, they will be as old or older when they enter office than Ronald Reagan was when he left office after his second term.
As more questions of their mental acuity arise, it would be unwise to forget the whole thing. Which is worse, calling living leaders the names of their dead predecessors or calling dead American soldiers who died serving their country, losers? The proper answer is they are both bad.
Whether it be signs of dementia or just plain bad judgment, questions of mental competence should be answered sooner rather than later. While they are at it, voters should extend those questions to Congress as well.
Have a good week,
-m
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Melissa, this essay has enough crushing morosity to be featured on the Commentary Magazine podcast. :)