Transcript of special counsel interview with Biden shows contradictions, issues of memory lapse

President Joe Biden showed memory lapses during his interview with special counsel Robert Hur, but he also recalled details about specific events during his time as vice president, according to a review of the transcript Tuesday.

The transcripts surfaced hours before Hur testifies before the House Judiciary Committee, after he declined to press charges against the president for his handling of classified documents, citing in his report that "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."

Biden also admitted to retaining documents from his more than 50 years in public office, and he said he couldn't keep track of everything, per The Associated Press. 

The transcript shows Biden failing to recall or being able to answer specific questions at least 100 times, according to a review of the transcript by NPR. In one line of questioning about President Biden’s time after he left the vice presidency in early 2017, he struggled to remember the year of important events, like Donald Trump’s election in 2016 and the death of his son, Beau Biden, who died after a battle with brain cancer in 2015.

“And so what was happening, though – what month did Beau die? Oh God, May 30," Biden said, according to the transcript reviewed by Just the News.

“2015,” a White House Counsel’s office attorney interjected.

“Was it 2015 he had died?” Biden asked.

The transcript contradicts statements President Biden made after Hur’s report was released last month. The president was publicly indignant and criticized Hur for allegedly raising the topic.

“How in the hell dare he raise that,” Biden said to reporters, speaking about Hur. “Frankly, when I was asked the question, I thought to myself it wasn’t any of their damn business.” Yet, the transcript shows it was Biden who first mentioned his son's death.

After confirming the date of his son’s death with the lawyers, President Biden still appeared to be confused about the timeline of his post-vice presidential private life.

Biden said: “And what's happened in the meantime is that Trump gets elected in November of 2017?"

Two individuals corrected him, saying it was in “2016,” according to the transcript.

“2016. Alright, so – why do I have 2017 here?" Biden asked.

"That's when you left office, January of 2017," a lawyer replied.

In another instance, Biden described his Wilmington, Delaware home in great detail to the investigators, however, when he was asked about the boxes of documents stored in his garage, he had little recollection about how they got there.

After describing his home with a “photographic understanding and recall of the house,” in the words of special counsel Hur, Biden could not answer questions about the boxes in his garage.

“There was stuff one day. I came home and all of it was on the garage floor," Biden declared.

Follow Madeleine Hubbard on X or Instagram.