Well, maybe they have figured out a way to get rid of Biden as a candidate in 2024: Hur report says he’s senile
Granted, in the report, senility is offered as an explanation and excuse for why Biden won’t be charged as a result of improperly possessing and storing classified documents. But still, it’s quite an explanation.
I mean, we knew Biden wouldn’t be charged, unlike Trump. But I never imagined that this would be one of the stated reasons for that:
President Biden “willfully retained and disclosed classified materials,” special counsel Robert Hur found in a bombshell report released Thursday — though Hur recommended against criminal charges, in part because a jury might view Biden as an “elderly man with a poor memory.”
Biden, 81, flouted legal restrictions on keeping sensitive documents throughout his 36 years in the Senate and eight years as vice president — stashing them in cardboard boxes in his garage in Wilmington, Del., and other locations, the 388-page report said, with photos showing Biden’s storage practices.
Investigators even uncovered a recording of Biden confiding in his ghostwriter Mark Zwonitzer in April 2017, three months after leaving the vice presidency, that he still had official records because “I didn’t want to turn them in” — sounding similar to former President Donald Trump, who faces 40 criminal charges and up to 450 years in prison for resisting handing over documents after leaving the White House in 2021.
Extraordinary.
There are also several photos of Biden’s garage, indicating how some of the records were stored. Also extraordinary. And these storage decisions occurred back when Biden was ostensibly in compos mentis. I was unable to download the photos, so just follow the link and feast your eyes.
Some of the documents are classified at Top Secret level and contain information about protected human intelligence sources.
Extraordinary.
“[A]t trial, Mr. Biden would likely present himself to a jury, as he did during our interview of him, as a sympathetic, well-meaning, elderly man with a poor memory,” the report says.
I wouldn’t see him as “well-meaning,” but half of America seems to hold that opinion.
Biden “did not remember when he was vice president, forgetting on the first day of the interview when his term ended (‘if it was 2013 — when did I stop being Vice President?’), and forgetting on the second day of the interview when his term began (‘in 2009, am I still Vice President?’),” the report says.
“He did not remember, even within several years, when his son Beau died [May 2015]. And his memory appeared hazy when describing the Afghanistan debate that was once so important to him. Among other things, he mistakenly said he ‘had a real difference’ of opinion with General Karl Eikenberry, when, in fact, Eikenberry was an ally whom Mr. Biden cited approvingly in his Thanksgiving [2009] memo to President Obama.”
Of course, maybe he’s conning them and pretending to be senile, right? Like 60s draft-dodgers pretending to be crazy.
On second thought: no.
The world is falling apart and we have a senile president. Actually, those two things are connected. But the saddest thing of all is that, even if Biden weren’t so fog-brained, I don’t think he’d be making many decisions that would be different. He was never smart and he was never competent, but once he became Obama’s vice-president he became wedded to Obama’s terrible policies.
NOTE: And you really can’t argue with Trump on this:
“THIS HAS NOW PROVEN TO BE A TWO-TIERED SYSTEM OF JUSTICE AND UNCONSTITUTIONAL SELECTIVE PROSECUTION!” the 77-year-old wrote on Truth Social.
“The Biden Documents Case is 100 times different and more severe than mine. I did nothing wrong, and I cooperated far more. What Biden did is outrageously criminal – He had 50 years of documents, 50 times more than I had, and ‘WILLFULLY RETAINED’ them,” Trump went on.
“I was covered by the Presidential Records Act, Secret Service was always around, and GSA delivered the documents. Deranged Jack Smith should drop this Case immediately. ELECTION INTERFERENCE.”
As I said in the other thread this is terrible news for Republicans. Biden is the only candidate that Trump has even a small chance of defeating and high profile things like this greatly increase the chances that Biden won’t be the nominee and I would argue that this MIGHT be the thing that forces him out, maybe even before the election.
On another note, what’s with a Special Counsel doing double duty as a defense attorney? Hur’s job was to investigate whether crimes were committed (they were). The question of whether a jury would be sympathetic to a doddering old man is outside his purview.
griffin:
I agree it’s bad news on many levels. On the other hand, with the proper “rigging,” they could drag anyone to victory, including the senile Biden. He was obviously very cognitively challenged in 2020 as well, and they managed it.
As far as other candidates go, I haven’t seen much polling but I read somewhere that none of them do all that well (excluding Michelle; I haven’t seen polls on her but my guess is she does better).
Kate:
Not outside his purview if the dodderer is a Democrat.
neo,
Yep, and that’s why I don’t get why so many people are so enamored of these polls showing Trump beating Biden right now. Even if they insist on wheeling Biden out there the same people will vote for him (or just against Trump) as did the last time.
It’s so infuriating on so many levels that I try not to think too much about it because it’s going to be unavoidable in a few months.
I never really bought into all the talk about him not being the nominee. I’ve changed my mind.
Mike Plaiss:
I am changing mine, too. Now I’m at 50/50. I never have doubted that they desperately desire to be rid of him. I have long thought the stumbling block was finding a good substitute. So now perhaps they’ve finally found one. Or alternatively, his prospects have become so dim that they figure that anyone would be better.
Kangaroos away
https://wattsupwiththat.com/2024/02/06/quote-of-the-week-manntastic-claims/
Must I remind Hur (and many others) that THE LAW IS THE LAW. It is not OK to not prosecute a senile 81 year old because of his senility, who happens to be ruining the country, who has broken top secret rules his entire political career; and go after 77 year-old Trump because he is not senile and who is mentally competent, though occasionally idiosynchratic.
4 years is their age difference. One faces bankruptcy and looong prison times, convicted by a jury of 12 blacks as selected by a Democrat black DA, Fani Willis, and the other gets a pass, Mr. Hur? Are we in Nigeria now?
A trial of Biden would manifest to all that he must be removed from office.
Put the words Newsom/Clinton ’24 in some sort of sentence…There!
You have your “substitute” and another “grudge match” to boot.
No…I’m not a prophet…so I’m probably wrong.
But sometimes reality may deal a weirder hand than fantasy.
This is grade a (redacted) the man lies in small things and large for 50 years. Every decision for the last four years would be noncompus mentis
One cannot be willfull retaining and forgetful its a contradiction in terms
Even if they insist on wheeling Biden out there the same people will vote for him (or just against Trump) as did the last time.
griffin:
That was then; this is now.
From the average citizen’s POV things are worse in most ways since Biden was elected. The polls show it. Biden is losing support from blacks and hispanics, and less identifiable Americans too.
Repurposing Joni Mitchell, a lot more Americans are hip to Dem tricks.
Cicero:
Sometimes a person is so far gone mentally that the person is officially declared incompetent to stand trial if, for example, he or she lacks the mental capacity to understand the charges or to cooperate in his or her own defense.
Biden is not that far gone – probably – and at any rate he has not been declared incompetent.
Well, I’m glad this development has brought a few folks around to my opinion. I was wring about the timing, of course. But I still maintain he’ll be switched out; either after all the primaries are completed or at the convention.
I disagree that Trump can only beat Biden. At this point, he should be considered the favorite against Slo Joe, whereas almost any other mainstream Democrat would be favored against Trump, but Trump could still pull off an upset. Never underestimate him.
By all means, click through and look at the pictures in the linked article. The complete and total disregard for any security or care of the documents is shocking. I take much better care of my 20-year-old tax returns.
Also, in my first reading of several articles about this, I missed the part that he “disclosed” some of the information. That takes the offense to another level completely. I have felt for some time that Hunter used information from his dad to help get his “job” at Burisma. This proves that Joe has no compunctions about sharing classified information, if it benefits him.
Mr Bill:
He disclosed it to a biographer, who erased the tapes when the investigation began.
I am not joking.
Anyone who has watched Joe over these last few years knows that he’s sliding into Lala land.
The policies that he, or whoever is calling the shots, has followed have thrust our country into inflation, increasing debt, an open border, rising crime, and multiple foreign policy failures. His administration has plunged this country into a spiral of unnecessary and unwanted chaos. And the majority of people in this country know it.
If the Democrats had any moral scruples, they never would have let Biden run in 2020. And now, they refuse to do the obvious – invoke the 25th Amendment. However, admitting that Joe is mentally incompetent would blow the cover on who has been running many of the scams and schemes while he’s served as a figurehead.
They have no bench. Budhajudge? Gruesome Newsome? Hillary? Blinken? Whitmer? Even Michelle??? Or Kamala????? I just don’t see them changing horses in mid-stream.
I think, in spite of this report, they are stuck with Joe. And I also think this report may well be another motivator (similar to the illegals beating up the cops in New York City) for independents and some Democrats to vote R or stay home.
If I’m wrong, and they dump Joe, the next few months may be very interesting.
When people are found too mentally ill to be criminally responsible, they normally get tried and spared from prison on account of their incapacity, BUT sent to mental institutions…Is that not the way it typically works?
David Foster:
No, this is not a mental illness defense. They are declared incompetent to stand trial and there is no trial. A lot of people confuse this with an insanity defense, which requires a trial. It is quite different. See this.
Neo…link doesn’t work. But what happens with a violent criminal who is found incompetent to stand trial? Surely he is not just released?
Biden is ignoring most of the report. He’s saying that it says he cooperated with the authorities and Trump didn’t. That’s the difference and that’s the takeaway from the report.
Of course it’s nonsense, but it’s what the media will say and people who rely on the media will believe it. Joe has made a lot of gaffes and mistakes this week, but he presented that line clearly.
I think we’re as likely to see some kind of major crisis that puts the country into a panic as we are to see Biden replaced on the ticket while he’s still alive and able to string a sentence together.
”But I still maintain he’ll be switched out; either after all the primaries are completed or at the convention.”
My understanding of the rules is that if a candidate drops out or is otherwise incapacitated after the party’s nominating convention, that party’s national committee can select a replacement without putting it before the voters until the federal election. I suspect that the DNC or whoever is pulling Biden’s strings likes the power they have and will use it to choose a similarly pliable replacement.
Ron Jeremy had been charged with multiple sex assault crimes. Indicted and made court appearance(s) where the judge determined he was too senile to participate in his defense. So off to a mental health facility for the rest of his days (you don’t recover from that. Even David Berkowitz recovered from mental illness.)
This is a mess.
Biden gave a press conference this evening in which he was very angry, did a lot of swearing, and said Abdel Fattah el Sisi is the president of Mexico.
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-13063725/joe-biden-address-nation-news.html
Kate:
Here’s the PJ Media version:
https://pjmedia.com/matt-margolis/2024/02/08/bidens-unannounced-nighttime-speech-an-absolute-disaster-n4926280
Yes, yes he did:
______________________________
A lost Joe Biden refers to Egyptian President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi as the “president of Mexico”
https://twitter.com/RNCResearch/status/1755761434863014396
I’d say we have passed Peak Biden — whenever that was.
Re: Biden — Puppet or Not?
I don’t think Biden is calling that many shots, but I’ll bet he was angry enough to call tonight’s press conference.
He chose poorly.
David Foster:
Usually put in a mental institution, if I remember correctly.
But more commonly, someone like that pleads insanity, I think.
@ Neo > “He disclosed it to a biographer, who erased the tapes when the investigation began.”
More about that biographer at the NYP: he isn’t going to jail either.
https://nypost.com/2024/02/08/news/why-biden-ghostwriter-wasnt-charged-in-classified-document-scandal-while-trump-allies-were/
The two bolded segments demonstrate the power of the Two-Tier Prosecution Levels: (1) the writer (who, I emphasize, was actually told classified information by Biden) didn’t expect the DOJ to do anything about Biden’s documents; (2) any trial would take place in DC, so why go to the trouble and expense when you already know the verdict would be not guilty.
PS: Ace has at least 4 posts on the Hur report.
He is not a happy camper.
https://www.timesofisrael.com/liveblog-february-9-2024/
The republic is a rotten shell so please speak more of the figurehead they will prop up
It is still lookingbto me like the perfect storm someone is anointed to take over the Barky IV administration. It would have to be a universal consent by the Deep State and Democrats Propaganda Ministry.
Biden isn’t going to be replaced. Blue states are gonna blue, red states are gonna red. Anyone relying on blacks/hispanics/independents putting Trump over the line by staying home is missing the critical factor: the Dems are FINE with them staying home. They will be signed up for Vote By Mail, and the Dems will harvest those ballots anyway in Atlanta, Detroit, Philly, Milwaukee, Maricopa County, etc. Dem tech is quite good for federal elections; they know who has voted and when; and those who want to protest by staying home may find out that they voted anyway, if they bothered to look at the voter roll list after the election. I knew Trump won in 2016 when Philly reported in 100%, and Trump was still ahead by around 2000 votes before Pittsburgh and western PA was fully in (since it trends red overall). That meant the Dems hadn’t beaten the margin of fraud in PA. They did not make that mistake again in 2020, and will not make it again in 2024. (This is why you see Clybourn from SC activating his AME church organization–those votes will get in via his precinct people nationwide assuming the BLM people get the paper from the mailbox).
The Dems have to choose someone they think at least half of the Republicans would vote for instead of Trump. Another Kennedy?
On another note, what’s with a Special Counsel doing double duty as a defense attorney?
Shades of Comey, Hillary and her email criminality!