CNN host Phil Mattingly recently interrupted Rep. Dan Goldman (D-NY) during a segment where the New York congressman defended President Joe Biden’s gaffes caused by his cognitive deficiencies.
The president’s “poor memory” was cited in a report by Special Counsel Robert Hur, who refused to pursue criminal charges against Biden despite describing him as possessing classified information regarding national security issues.
Special Counsel Finds Joe Biden Willfully Kept Classified Information, Declines To Pursue Criminal Charges https://t.co/qzBM81Uxvq
— Daily Caller (@DailyCaller) February 9, 2024
The special counsel said the president, if forced to attend a deposition, “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.”
Hur added that it would be “difficult to convince a jury that they should convict him — by then a former president well into his eighties — of a serious felony that requires a mental state of willfulness.”
During the interview between Mattingly and Goldman, the New York lawmaker argued that Hur’s report contained “very, very flimsy evidence.”
Goldman said the special counsel cited Biden’s gaffes to appeal to Republicans who are angry that the president was not charged, unlike former President Donald Trump, who faces four indictments brought forth by radical Democratic prosecutors.
Mattingly replied that Hur said the president was a “well-meaning, elderly man, with poor memory.”
“They were trying to back up that statement in their decision, specifically the notebooks that he shared with the ghostwriter, why they believed they could not win in trial on the issue of willful retention and dissemination, You don’t think that backs that up?” Mattingly asked.
In response, Goldman said the special counsel gathered evidence from Biden’s time as a private citizen. The New York congressman lashed out at individuals criticizing the president’s cognitive abilities.
“Do you think the president helped himself last night in his response?” Mattingly asked Goldman.
“I do. I think that the president standing out there, really powerfully explaining how absurd it is that there would be accusations that he would not remember when his son died, which was, you know, such a critical moment,” Goldman replied.
“And it was important, I think, for him to show, as he did in answering the question about the Middle East, how much of a grasp and how experienced and wise he is, especially right now on foreign policy issues,” he continued.
Goldman then said he spoke with the president on Oct. 7, 2023 — the day Hamas, a terrorist organization, invaded Israel. The New York lawmaker claimed that during his discussion of the Middle East with Biden, the president “demonstrated an unbelievable mastery of this entire region,” adding that his age has a “tremendous benefit” in his understanding of foreign policy.
“Certainly and I think that was the message he was trying to get across —” Mattingly interjected.
Goldman then tried to argue that other elected officials suffer from memory issues, such as House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) confusing Iran and Israel. He called the House speaker’s mistake a “much more significant mistake than President el-Sisi as being in Mexico.”
Biden recently confused the presidents of Mexico and Egypt, telling reporters that Egyptian President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi was the leader of Mexico.
