Audio of Joe Biden's interview with Robert Hur who tagged him as 'elderly man with poor memory' drops
WASHINGTON, DC: Former President Joe Biden’s interview with former special counsel Robert Hur in 2023 was released on Friday, May 16, by Axios, regarding his handling of classified documents.
Even though the probe concluded with no criminal charges due to insufficient evidence, the audio concluded him as an "elderly man with a poor memory", which the Special Counsel tagged him at the time.
Axios releases Joe Biden's 2023 interview audio with Robert Hur
The audio released by Axios includes long pauses, and at times, the sound of a clock striking is audible in the background.
Interestingly, the transcripts of Biden's interview were made public in 2024, this is the first time audio excerpts from the sessions have been made public.
The contents of the audio reflected what is already publicly known, a Biden spokeswoman stated.
However, the timing of the release of the audio coincides with the upcoming book by CNN journalist Jake Tapper and Axios’ Alex Thompson titled 'Original Sin: President Biden's Decline, Its Cover-Up, and His Disastrous Choice to Run Again'. The book highlights a decline in Biden's health during his time in office.
The former president sat for interviews with Hur for almost five hours over two days in fall 2023 as part of the special counsel’s investigation into his handling of classified materials, according to CNN.
In a nearly four-and-a-half-minute clip published by Axios, the former POTUS was asked where he kept papers on matters he was "actively working" on after leaving office as vice president in 2017
Biden took a long pause and stated, "I don’t know", as he then went on to talk about seemingly unrelated things that happened during that time frame. Biden talked about people encouraging him to run for president in 2016.
Moreover, the former president had trouble remembering when his eldest son, Beau, died and had to confirm it with those who were present in the room during the interview.
He asked, "What month did Beau die?" before pausing as he said, "Oh, God, May 30th…"
Meanwhile, two people completed the former president's sentence and said, "2015," as Biden asked, "Was it 2015 he had died?"
Robert Hur calls Joe Biden 'elderly man with a poor memory' in his report
In another clip from Axios, Joe Biden was asked whether he knew that he had kept a memo related to Afghanistan, to which he first said, “I don’t know that I knew."
However, when pressed further, the former president said, "I guess I wanted to hang onto it just for posterity’s sake."
Meanwhile, a person from Biden’s team interjected and tried to clarify the president's answer.
The person said, "I just really would like to avoid for the purpose of a clean record, getting into speculative areas," adding, "His recollection, as I understand it, is he does not recall specifically intending to keep this memo after he left the vice presidency."
In February 2024, Hur declined to charge Biden. However, in a final report, he said that the former president "willfully retained and disclosed classified materials."
However, the politically damaging part of the special counsel's findings came in his characterization of the president as a "well-meaning, elderly man with a poor memory," one who would likely win over a jury if he faced prosecution, per CNN.
Meanwhile, Biden and his allies disputed Hur’s characterization as inaccurate and unfair, as they pushed back on the special counsel raising that he didn’t remember when his eldest son, Beau, died in his report.
Moreover, on Friday, President Donald Trump spoke to reporters and said Attorney General Pam Bondi and her team would determine whether the audio should be released.
"I know people that are 89, 90, 92, 93-years-old that are literally perfect — but Joe was not one of them," @POTUS said today about Biden's mental decline.
— Rapid Response 47 (@RapidResponse47) May 16, 2025
"Our country is at stake ... You can't have a man in that condition and everybody was holding back, including the press." pic.twitter.com/NpJJPIYYAE
He said, "That’s up to Pam [Bondi] and the group. I haven’t really looked into. Everybody understands the condition of him. I know people that are 89, 90, 92, 93 years old and are literally perfect. But Joe was not one of them, and they did a lot of hiding. They were they were really playing games. And, you know, you can’t do that. Our country’s at stake."
