Robert Hur defends his focus on Biden’s memory in a controversial report on classified files. He will tell lawmakers that his assessment of the president’s memory as poor, remarks that sparked uproar last month, was “accurate and fair”.
The report found Mr. Biden “wilfully” retained troves of files but Mr. Hur declined to charge him with a crime.
The president’s age has become a key issue as he runs for a second term.
Explaining in his report the decision not to charge Mr. Biden, Mr. Hur had said a jury would view him as a “well-meaning, elderly man” with a “poor memory”.
The comments enraged the White House and reinforced some voters’ concerns over Mr. Biden’s age.
In prepared opening remarks shared hours before he appears before the House Judiciary Committee at Capitol Hill, Mr. Hur defended his decision to detail issues with the president’s memory, arguing it was relevant to his decision not to bring charges.
“My assessment in the report about the relevance of the president’s memory was necessary and accurate and fair,” Mr. Hur plans to say. “Most importantly, what I wrote is what I believe the evidence shows, and what I expect jurors would perceive and believe.” He plans to add that he did not “disparage the president”, but was required to explain his logic to the US attorney general. “These are the types of issues prosecutors analyze every day,” he will say.
Mr. Hur alleged in his February report that the president struggled to recall major events from his time serving as vice-president, and could not remember when exactly his term in office had begun or when his son Beau died of cancer.
The transcript of the report – released just ahead of Mr. Hur’s testimony – shows Mr. Biden did in fact remember the month and date Beau died, but struggled to remember the year.
“What month did Beau die? Oh God – May 30th,” Mr. Biden asked during the interview. A White House lawyer responded with “2015” and the president responded: “Was it 2015 he had died?”
The transcript painted a mixed picture of the president’s two-day interview with the special counsel, during which Mr. Biden frequently joked with the prosecutor and appeared to have good recall for large parts of the conversation.
But it also notes there was a great deal that Biden does not recall, including details about who packed boxes with his documents and how and when they were transported.
Mr. Biden occasionally appeared to be reaching for words including the term “fax machine”. After Mr. Hur’s report last month, the president was quick to refute its claim that he was suffering from memory issues.
“I’m well-meaning, and I’m an elderly man, and I know what the hell I’m doing,” he told reporters.
He responded angrily to Mr. Hur’s comments about forgetting the day his son died, saying “How in the hell dare he raise that?”
The transcript released on Tuesday suggests the president was not asked directly when his son died.
The Republican Party has been stoking claims for months that the 81-year-old is not mentally fit to serve a second term in the White House, with polling suggesting that a significant proportion of voters are also worried about Mr. Biden’s mental acuity.
Republicans have also criticized Mr. Hur’s refusal to charge Mr. Biden, comparing it with seven charges filed against former President Donald Trump in June. A trial is potentially scheduled for this summer.
Mr. Hur argued there were “several distinctions” between the former president and Mr. Biden’s handling of classified documents, arguing the allegations against Mr. Trump “present serious aggravating facts”.
Mr. Trump was given multiple chances to return classified documents but did the opposite, he wrote. “According to the indictment, he not only refused to return the documents for many months, but he also obstructed justice by enlisting others to destroy evidence and then to lie about it.”