It was a press conference President Joe Biden never should have given. 

On the same day the Justice Department released special counsel Robert Hur’s report concluding that Biden should not be prosecuted for illegally handling classified documents because a jury would find him to be “a sympathetic, well-meaning, elderly man with a poor memory,” Biden hastily assembled the White House press corps for prepared remarks in which he said:

“I know there’s some attention paid to some language in the report about my recollection of events. There’s even a reference that I don’t remember when my son died. How in the hell dare he raise that. Frankly, when I was asked the question, I thought to myself it wasn’t any of their damn business.” 

The problem is, on Tuesday, the Justice Department released the transcript of Hur’s interview with Biden, and it clearly shows that not only did Biden forget when his son died, as Hur claimed, but that it was Biden, not Hur, who raised the issue.

Here is the exchange:

MR. HUR: “So during this time when you were living at Chain Bridge Road and there were documents relating to the Penn Biden Center, or the Biden Institute, or the Cancer Moonshot, or your book, where did you keep papers that related to those things that you were actively working on?”

PRESIDENT BIDEN: “Well, um, … I, I, I, I, I don’t know. This is, what, 2017, 2018, that area?”

MR. HUR: “Yes, sir.”

PRESIDENT BIDEN: “Remember, in this timeframe, my son is — either been deployed or is dying, and, so it was — and by the way, there were still a lot of people at the time when I got out of the Senate that were encouraging me to run in this period, except the President [Obama]. I’m not — and not a mean thing to say. He just thought that she [Hillary Clinton] had a better shot of winning the presidency than I did. And so I hadn’t, I hadn’t at this point — even though I’m at Penn [his post-presidential think tank], I hadn’t walked away from the idea that I may run for office again. But if I ran again, I’d be running for President. And, and so what was happening though — what month did Beau die? Oh, God, May 30th —”

In actuality, Beau Biden’s deployment to Iraq ended in 2009, and he died in 2015, a full two years before the time frame Hur asked about. So not only did Hur not raise Beau, it was Biden who raised Beau and in an attempt to explain falsely why he illegally possessed classified documents.

But the release of the transcript showing Biden lied wasn’t even the worst part of Hur’s testimony. That came later under questioning from Rep. Kelly Armstrong (R-ND).

ARMSTRONG: “Mr. Hur, classified documents were found at the Penn Biden Center?” 

HUR: “That’s correct.”

ARMSTRONG: “They were found in President Biden’s garage?”

HUR: “In Wilmington, Delaware, yes.”

ARMSTRONG: “And in his basement den?”

HUR: “Also in the same home, yes.”

ARMSTRONG: “And his main floor office?”

HUR: “Correct.”

ARMSTRONG: “And his third-floor den?”

HUR: “Correct.”

ARMSTRONG: “At the University of Delaware?” 

HUR: “Correct.”

ARMSTRONG: “And at the Biden Institute?”  

HUR: “Correct.”

CLICK HERE TO READ MORE FROM THE WASHINGTON EXAMINER

This back-and-forth between Armstrong and Hur is damning. It only lasts 20 seconds. It clearly shows Biden either intentionally mishandled classified documents or is too old to be held accountable for his actions. Neither conclusion is good. I would expect it to be featured in television ads this fall.