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President Joe Biden forcefully \u2014 and at times angrily \u2014 sought to combat suggestions his acuity was declining in a hastily-arranged press conference Thursday night.<\/p>\n
But the 81-year-old leader may have made his biggest election-year liability worse.<\/p>\n
The president summoned reporters at the White House to insist that his memory was \u201cfine\u201d and emphasize he was insulted by the portrait of an \u201celderly man with a poor memory\u201d painted by a former US attorney appointed by Donald Trump \u2014 his likely 2024 opponent \u2014 in an investigation into his handling of classified documents.<\/p>\n
Yet a press conference that saw the president express righteous anger over the invoking of his son\u2019s death and offer a comprehensive overlook at the conflict in the Middle East was undercut by another high-profile gaffe involving a foreign leader.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Toward the end of his remarks, Biden mistakenly referred to Egyptian President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi as the leader of Mexico. The misstep threatened to undermine his entire effort, and was immediately seized on by his political opponents as further evidence Biden was unfit to serve.<\/p>\n
White House allies expressed anger and frustration, saying the focus on Biden\u2019s late slip merely validated their belief that the news media was driven by spectacle over substance and unfairly held Biden to a higher standard than Trump, who himself has repeatedly fumbled names, dates and facts.<\/p>\n
Still, the irony of Biden\u2019s gaffe seemed to eliminate any hope of reversing the drumbeat of concern over his age and ability that had grown over the week, after repeatedly confusing the names of European leaders on the campaign trail and declining the opportunity to sit for a traditional pregame interview before the Super Bowl.\u00a0<\/p>\n
That alarm reached new heights on Thursday afternoon, when a scathing Justice Department report on his handling of classified material cited the president\u2019s \u201cdiminished faculties and faulty memory\u201d even as it concluded criminal charges were not warranted.<\/p>\n
To watch the full Biden press conference click here.<\/a><\/p>\n Biden rejected the characterization presented in Special Counsel Robert Hur\u2019s report.<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019m well-meaning, and I\u2019m an elderly man and I know what the hell I\u2019m doing. I\u2019ve been president, and I\u2019ve put this country back on its feet. I don\u2019t need his recommendation,\u201d Biden told reporters in the Diplomatic Room.\u00a0<\/p>\n The president also disputed conclusions within the report, including that he disclosed classified information to his ghostwriter. He said a memo on Afghanistan he wrote to President Barack Obama that he shared should have been considered \u201cprivate\u201d and not classified. Biden also said any assertion he willfully kept classified material was \u201cplain wrong.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cThe fact is, they made a firm conclusion: I did not break the law. Period,\u201d Biden said.<\/p>\n The president showed he was particularly hurt by Hur\u2019s claim that he could not remember the date when his son, Beau Biden, died from brain cancer, saying it was immaterial to the investigation.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cHow in the hell dare he raise that. Frankly when I was asked the question I thought to myself, it wasn\u2019t any of their damn business,\u201d Biden said. \u201cI don\u2019t need anyone to remind me of when he passed away.\u201d<\/p>\n The report by the Justice Department said investigators working for Hur found Biden had knowingly stored and disclosed classified information that was kept at his homes in Virginia and Delaware, but stopped short of charging him with any crimes.\u00a0<\/p>\n The most jarring disclosures in the report, though, were descriptions of the president, as an \u201celderly man with a poor memory,\u201d who struggled on occasions to remember basic facts. Biden was described as also forgetting when his term as vice president ended and details of critical foreign policy debates during the Obama administration.<\/p>\n \u201cMy memory is fine,\u201d Biden said. \u201cI\u2019m the most qualified person in this country to be President of the United States and finish the job I started.\u201d<\/p>\n Biden defended himself by saying he had cooperated with the special counsel\u2019s \u201cexhaustive investigation\u201d even as he juggled the demands of his office. The president said he sat for a five-hour interview with Hur, which took place a day after the Oct. 7 Hamas assault on Israel.<\/p>\n Voters have said Biden\u2019s age ranks as one of their biggest concerns as he heads into a likely rematch with Trump in November.\u00a0<\/p>\n Trump, the Republican frontrunner, is facing criminal charges in four separate cases, including one alleging he kept classified material from his time in the White House and then tried to block the federal government from recovering it. Biden drew a distinction between his cooperation with investigators and Trump\u2019s conduct.<\/p>\n \u201cIt wasn\u2019t out like in Mar-a-Lago, in a public place,\u201d Biden said, referring to Trump\u2019s Florida estate where documents were found.<\/p>\n Trump\u2019s campaign seized on the special counsel report Thursday.<\/p>\n \u201cIf you\u2019re too senile to stand trial, then you\u2019re too senile to be president,\u201d Alex Pfeiffer, communications director for Trump\u2019s political action committee, said in a statement.\u00a0<\/p>\n<\/div>\nSubscribe to the new Fortune CEO Weekly Europe newsletter to get corner office insights on the biggest business stories in Europe. Sign up<\/a> for free.<\/div>\n