Transcript shows Hur was misleading about Biden forgetting date of Beau's death

[wbrocks67]

Transcript from the special counsel shows that Biden did indeed know the exact day of Beau's death - May 30th - but took a second to remember what year it was.

Hur's account of how Biden couldn't remember when Beau died was misleading at best, given that I imagine most people who have been through a traumatic death that was years ago may also need to take a second to remember what year it was. The fact that Biden knew the exact date it happened is the most noteworthy to me, since that blows up Hur's insinuation.

Let it be known as well that this whole thing is gross though. It's very normal for anyone to forget the exact date/year of a traumatic death close to them, whether they're 81 or not. The grossest thing here was for Hur to weaponize it at all against Biden. Ding Biden for whatever else, but this in particular is something that was really pathetic to do.

https://twitter.com/weijia/status/1767523656584851950?s=20

https://twitter.com/AlexThomp/status/1767528028358262830

[wbrocks67]

Honestly, the rest of the transcript makes it clear that Biden is not a 'doddering' old man; he's human like the rest of us and doesn't remember every single thing or fact (there is mention of him doing the 'i dont recall' that Trump, Ivanka, etc. have consistently used MUCH more!) When it's not malicious (like in the case of Trump), then I don't see much of an issue, considering again - we're all human. No one remembers everything. There's other times in the transcript where he goes into great detail of events, even jokes with the interviewers, and even corrects *them* - you can't say that that all connects to someone who is also senile.

[wbrocks67]

Hur himself didn't even know what time of day it was! And you know what - that's human too! That's my point; everyone messes up stuff sometimes. So for Hurr to go at length about Biden's memory very selectively is just very disingenuous

https://twitter.com/kyledcheney/status/1767527445597466723

[wbrocks67]

I mean-

https://twitter.com/BidenHQ/status/1767552704862179565

[wbrocks67]

I'm sorry, this transcript is rather devastating for Hur. The transcript comes off very different than how Hur made everything seem

https://twitter.com/emptywheel/status/1767542524099309608

[wbrocks67]

LMAO, I am unsurprised that Alex Thompson made sure to find a few quotes - again, showing that he's human, forgetting some years for events (that we all do), but made sure to pinpoint THOSE, but then offered this up at the end:

"Biden's team has also noted that he had excellent recall in several other parts of the interview, and argued that the missteps were exaggerated and cherry-picked."

Well, if you read the transcript, which you allegedly did, then you would know if this was true or not; you wouldn't just say "Biden's team also noted..." - it's funny how all of those moments did not wind up in this article!

https://www.axios.com/2024/03/12/biden-mental-lapses-hur-interview-transcript

[wbrocks67]

Like I'm truly baffled (but shouldn't be) that now the sudden criticism of Biden's testimony is basically ... "that happened in 2016, right? 2017?" I mean, how many among us - let alone people who have been around for 80 years - do that all the time? Like I am not going to fault anyone - not even Trump - for forgetting when an event happened. I catch myself all the time doing some form of this, "oh was that 2009? Was that 2011?" That doesn't mean someone is cognitively impaired, and it's hilarious to me that this is now what they're going with.

Let alone, before it was "He forgot Beau's death" and now suddenly it is "He forgot Beau's death YEAR" since it's been revealed he knew exactly what date it was

[wbrocks67]

It's amazing how this didn't end up in that Axios article!

https://twitter.com/BidenHQ/status/1767541849504235811

[wbrocks67]

After I read this I was trying to remember if I could name the exact dates of important events in my life and I couldn't even remember the year my grandfather died.  I had to remember that I was talking to a particular girlfriend about it, and that relationship was just in 2017, so it must have been 2017.  I don't remember the day at all, just that it was summer.  Probably sometime in August?

This is the crux of it - most of the hits against Biden, especially in the Axios article, are things like this. Things we all do to help us remember - where we talk out loud and you go, "Was that in 2017? I know it was when I did XYZ, so it must've been in 2017" or something like that. Everyone does that! And from the transcript, it seems Biden did that a lot - talked out loud to help jog his memory. To try and hold this against someone as if all of us don't do this is just completely disingenuous. That is what frustrates me the most (along with holding it against him that he didnt instantly remember the year his son died)

Honestly I wish THIS is the angle Dems were going for today. I could care less about equalizing it to Trumps insane statements, I feel like a more poignant point needs to be made against Hur on the merits of how disingenuous his entire report was.

[wbrocks67]

Once again, this is gross. Going after someone for not remembering the specific year someone close to them died (even when they remembered the exact day!) is disgusting.

Also disingenuous that Ken completely leaves out the part about knowing the exact day, but includes the part about the year to further the narrative he's trying to push.

https://twitter.com/KenDilanianNBC/status/1767529936397447562