U.S. President Joe Biden delivers the annual State of the Union address before a joint session of Congress in the House chamber at the Capital building on March 7, 2024 in Washington, DC. Biden said he had "no idea" how classified documents ended up at his home and former Penn Biden Center office in Washington, D.C., during an interview with Special Counsel Robert Hur. (Shawn Thew-Pool/Getty Images)
Biden said that he left it to his staff to safeguard classified information that was presented to him, often leaving papers on his desk in heaps for aides to sort through and secure.
"I never asked anybody," Biden said. He noted that many of his staff had worked with him for years, to the point where they didn't need direction from him. "It just — it just got done. I don’t know. I can’t remember who."
Hur, in his report on President Biden’s alleged improper retention of classified records, did not recommend criminal charges against Biden.
"We conclude that no criminal charges are warranted in this matter," said the report, which was released in early February. "We would reach the same conclusion even if the Department of Justice policy did not foreclose criminal charges against a sitting president."
The special counsel infamously described Biden as "a sympathetic, well-meaning, elderly man with a poor memory."
Hur stood by those remarks in his prepared testimony to the Judiciary Committee. He will say his report "reflects my best effort to explain why I declined to recommend charging President Biden."
Special Counsel Robert Hur's report calling out President Biden's "poor memory" sparked newfound media coverage of the leader's mental capacity in office. (Reuters/Getty)
Hur asked Biden about where he kept the things that he was "actively working on" while he was living in a rental home in Virginia immediately after leaving the vice presidency in January 2017. And in that context, it was Biden himself who brought up Beau's illness and death as he talked about a book he'd published later in 2017 about that painful time.
"What month did Beau die?" Biden wondered aloud, adding, "Oh God, May 30th."
A White House lawyer who was present supplied the year, 2015.
"Was it 2015 he died?" Biden said.
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The president went on to tell a story about how his late son had encouraged him to remain involved in public life after the Obama administration ended.
Several portions of the transcript were redacted by the Justice Department, National Security Council and State Department to hide sensitive intelligence and details of foreign affairs matters.
Fox News Digital's Greg Norman, Brooke Singman and Fox News' Tyler Olson, as well as the Associated Press contributed to this report.
Chris Pandolfo is a writer for Fox News Digital. Send tips to chris.pandolfo@fox.com and follow him on Twitter @ChrisCPandolfo.
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