Big moments

3 big moments from the Biden-Hur interview — and one that was classic Biden

A transcript of the former special counsel’s interview with the president was released in advance of his high-profile House testimony on Tuesday.

By ANTHONY ADRAGNA

Ahead of former Special Counsel Robert Hur’s Tuesday testimony on his report about President Joe Biden’s handling of classified information, lawmakers released a transcript of Hur’s interview with Biden — a document that sheds major new light on his findings.

Hur used his testimony to defend the impartiality of his report, which Biden and his allies slammed as gratuitous for highlighting perceived lapses in the president’s memory and suggesting that Biden could portray himself as a “sympathetic, well-meaning elderly man.”

The former Justice Department special counsel’s findings are facing heavy scrutiny as Republicans continue to eye a potential impeachment of the president — though they’re still well short of the support they need or any direct evidence of Biden using his official roles to benefit his family.

Here are four moments from the transcript worth highlighting:

Hur on Biden ‘photographic’ memory

The then-special counsel praised Biden during the interview for his “photographic understanding and recall” of a house the president visited during a trip to Mongolia.

Biden also used the interchange to tout his archery skills while recalling his foray into the sport during his foreign trip. He said that he’s “not a bad archer” but that due to “pure luck, I hit the goddamn target.”

The president added that “I turned to the prime minister and handed [the bow] to him and the poor son-of-a-bitch couldn’t pull it back.”

BIDEN: “I went to Mongolia and, and great pictures. I, unfortunately, embarrassed the hell out of the leader of Mongolia. They were showing — the were doing a — what the would do at the time of the invasion of the Mongols into Europe in the 14 — in the 800s. And they — and then show what a normal day was, or how they, how they bivouac. And so we’re out in the middle of nowhere and they’re looking up on the hill and we see this tiny line. You know, it’s a 20-mile horse race with all these kids under the age of 16 on bareback racing to come down. And you know, there are sumo wrestlers doin’ everything they do. And so they walked over and they had a target with bales of hay a hundred yards away, and these guerillas were, you know, taking shots. And I think — I don’t know if it was to embarrass me or to make a point, but I get handed the bow and arrow. I’m not a bad archer. But (indiscernible) where I can pull it back, so I — and pure luck, I hit the goddamn target.”

(Laughter)

“No, I really did. Bales of hay that were, like, 20 bales of hay with a big target in the middle of the bale of hay. And so I didn’t mean anything by it. I turned to the prime minister and handed it to him and the poor son-of-a-bitch couldn’t pull it back. I was, I was like, oh, God.”

(Laughter)

HUR: “Understood. That was very helpful. We have some photographs maybe to show you, but you have — appear to have a photographic understanding, and recall of the house.”

Beau Biden’s death

In perhaps the most striking moment from Biden’s public rebuttal to the Hur report last month, he bristled at its suggestions that he could not remember the date of the death of his son, Beau, from cancer in May 2015.

The transcript shows Biden, while recalling that “I hadn’t walked away from the idea that I may run for office again” during the period following his son’s death, searching aloud for the exact date of Beau’s death — before correctly recalling it as May 30.

After that response, the president still struggled to recall the exact year of his son’s passing, getting help from aides and his lawyer.

“Was it 2015 he had died?” Biden asked, before his personal lawyer, Bob Bauer, prompted him: “I’m not sure of the month, sir, but I think that was the year.”

HUR: “So during this time when you were living at Chain Bridge Road and there were documents relating to the Penn Biden Center, or the Biden Institute, or the Cancer Moonshot, or your book, where did you keep papers that related to those things that you were actively working on?”

BIDEN: “Well, um… I, I, I, I, I I don’t know. This is, what, 2017, 2018, that area?”

HUR: “Yes, sir.”

BIDEN: “Remember, in this timeframe, my son is — either been deployed or is dying, and, and so it was — and by the way, there were still a lot of people at this time when I got out of the Senate that were encouraging me to run in this period, except the President. I’m not — and not a mean thing to say. He just thought that she had a better shot of winning the presidency than I did. And so I hadn’t, at this point — even though I’m at Penn, I hadn’t walked away from the idea that I may run for office again. But if I ran again, I’d be running for President. And, and so what was happening, though — what month did Beau die? Oh, God, May 30th —"

Biden acknowledges his messy organization

Hur also asked Biden about his storage of files related to his tenure as vice president — an exchange that prompted hesitation from the president about when he stopped serving as former President Barack Obama’s No. 2.

“When did I stop being vice president?” Biden asked, according to the transcript. Another attorney, Rachel Cotton, replied: “2017.”

Asked about how his records ended up in his garage, the president replied: “I don’t remember how a beat-up box got in the garage … Somebody must’ve, packing this up, just picked up all the stuff and put it in a box, because I didn’t.”

“Do you have any idea where this material would’ve been before it got moved into the garage?”

BIDEN: “Well, if it was 2013 — when did I stop being Vice President?”

MR. COTTON: “2017.”

HUR: “So to the extent that there were other notebooks containing your notes on foreign policy during your time as Vice President, where are those?”

BIDEN: “I have no idea. I wish I could say I was more organized. No, I’m not being facetious.”

Biden’s humor — and car talk

At one point in the interview, Hur asked about how Biden referred to some of his staff members.

“By their first names,” Biden replied. “I’m not being facetious.”

The president later described why he kept records related to a Corvette, explaining that he’s a famous “car guy.”

“I kept all the material relating to the Corvette because I — my dad ran a dealership, he was able to give me as a wedding gift for my wife and I because he could afford the payments,” Biden said. “He was the manager; he didn’t own it. He couldn’t afford a big gift, but he could afford the payments.”

Later in that exchange, the president further leaned into two more positive elements of his public image — his love for his home state and his status as what the extremely online might call a wife guy.

Biden acknowledged bringing classified materials “occasionally” to his lake house in Wilmington, Del., for work, “because I did a lot of business from there.”

And he was quick to joke about First Lady Jill Biden: “I just hope you didn’t find any risque pictures of my wife in a bathing suit. Which you probably did. She’s beautiful.”

Biden also described himself as “a frustrated architect” while trying to renovate his house in Delaware.

“In order to try to convince me not to run for the Senate for the 19th time, my wife said, ‘Look, you don’t run, I’ll [go to] architectural school for you,” Biden joked.