(Headline USA) Democrat senators admitted this week that President Joe Biden is in trouble following the release of a special counsel report that detailed his mental decline.
Special counsel Robert Hur, who investigated Biden’s mishandling of classified documents, argued in his report that Biden should not be prosecuted for the crime because a jury was likely to see him as an “elderly” but “well-meaning” man with memory issues.
According to Hur, during their interview Biden could not remember when he was vice president or when his late son Beau Biden died.
The president and his allies have pushed back on the comments, writing off Hur’s report as a right-wing “hit job.” And even though Democrats on Capitol Hill reiterated their support for Biden’s reelection bid, several acknowledged that Biden’s campaign was in a tough spot.
“I’m nervous,” said Sen. John Hickenlooper, D-Colo., according to the Washington Examiner. “But I’m pretty confident that people will make the right decision.”
Hickenlooper, who was found guilty in an ethics investigation of his own during his time as Colorado governor, also suggested Hur’s conclusions were political in nature.
“It certainly appeared to have a lot of information there that was not complimentary to the president but didn’t really have to do much with the decision, but that’s politics,” he said of the report.
“I’m not up in arms about it,” he added. “I don’t think there should be an inspector general looking into it. I think it’s where we are in our political universe right now.”
Sen. John Fetterman, D-Pa., who weathered concerns about his own mental fitness after suffering a stroke on the campaign trail, admitted that members of his own party were nervous about Biden’s ability to win reelection, but he dismissed their fears as “some kind of agenda.”
He went on to argue that Biden’s mental fitness shouldn’t be a top concern.
“Yes, President Biden is old. Trump is old. They’re essentially the same age,” Fetterman said.
“One has gaffes. The other has gaffes. One has files. The other one has files,” he continued. “It’s pretty much the same thing, but one of us isn’t saying, ‘If you don’t pay bills, I want Russia to invade you.’ And saying really crazy kind of s***.”