Joe Biden's ‘memory lapses’ revealed in leaked audio from 2023 probe, he couldn't recall ‘when his son died’

An audio clip of former US President Joe Biden's October 2023 interview emerged this week after the White House reportedly refused to release the recordings last year. The audio was from two three-hour sessions on October 8 and 9, 2023.

In an exclusive report, Axios, which claimed to have obtained Biden's October 2023 interviews with special counsel Robert Hur, alleged that Biden had struggled to recall key details of his political and personal life, including when his son died.

'Memory lapses'

"Amid long, uncomfortable pauses, Joe Biden struggled to recall when his son died, when he left office as vice president, what year Donald Trump was elected or why he had classified documents he shouldn't have had," Axios reported after analysing the audio.

The audio revealed the former president's "dry-whisper voice and the long silences" as he struggles to find the right words or dates.

“Well, um, I, I, I, I, I, I don’t know,” Biden, then 80, responded to one question about where he would store papers related to his post-vice presidential work at the Penn Biden Center, his memoir “Promise Me, Dad” and the Cancer Moonshot initiative, the New York Post reported.

"The attorneys had to remind Biden the year his son Beau died (2015) and when Trump was first elected (2016)," Axios reported.

The report, however, noted that Biden, overall, he was engaged in the interview. "He cracked jokes and made humorous asides, and was able to respond to the general gist of the questions. But he had little memory of how he came to have classified documents after he left office as vice president,: the report claimed.

"The attorneys had to remind Biden the year his son Beau died (2015) and when Trump was first elected (2016)," Axios reported.

The report, however, noted that Biden, overall, he was engaged in the interview. "He cracked jokes and made humorous asides, and was able to respond to the general gist of the questions. But he had little memory of how he came to have classified documents after he left office as vice president,: the report claimed.

"The attorneys had to remind Biden the year his son Beau died (2015) and when Trump was first elected (2016)," Axios reported.

The report, however, noted that Biden, overall, he was engaged in the interview. "He cracked jokes and made humorous asides, and was able to respond to the general gist of the questions. But he had little memory of how he came to have classified documents after he left office as vice president,: the report claimed.

"The attorneys had to remind Biden the year his son Beau died (2015) and when Trump was first elected (2016)," Axios reported.

The report, however, noted that Biden, overall, he was engaged in the interview. "He cracked jokes and made humorous asides, and was able to respond to the general gist of the questions. But he had little memory of how he came to have classified documents after he left office as vice president,: the report claimed.

"The attorneys had to remind Biden the year his son Beau died (2015) and when Trump was first elected (2016)," Axios reported.

The report, however, noted that Biden, overall, he was engaged in the interview. "He cracked jokes and made humorous asides, and was able to respond to the general gist of the questions. But he had little memory of how he came to have classified documents after he left office as vice president,: the report claimed.

What did Hur's report say?

Hur's report had concluded that this evidence wasn't enough to persuade a jury to convict Biden — especially given how cooperative Biden had been and how likable and forgetful Biden was.

"It would be difficult to convince a jury that they should convict him — by then a former president, well into his 80s — of a serious felony that requires a mental state of willfulness," Hur concluded.

Biden spokesperson Kelly Scully told Axios, "The transcripts were released by the Biden administration more than a year ago. The audio does nothing but confirm what is already public."

Why is this audio important?

Axios reported that the recording of the interview holds significance as it sheds light on why the "White House refused to release the recordings last year, as questions mounted about his mental acuity."

Biden's White House had refused to release the recordings last year, reportedly arguing they were protected "law enforcement materials" and that Republicans only wanted "to chop them up, distort them, and use them for partisan political purposes."

The report stated that the audio also appears to validate Hur's assertion that jurors in a trial likely would have viewed Biden as "a sympathetic, well-meaning, elderly man with a poor memory."

"Partly based on that determination, Hur decided not to prosecute Biden for improper possession of classified documents...," the report added.

Democrats and Biden's White House reportedly blasted Hur for his observations about Biden and repeatedly insisted that the former US President was "sharp" and that Hur was politically motivated.