Though new audio recordings released by Axios paint a picture of an elderly man suffering memory loss, rare exchanges showed glimpses into former President Joe Biden’s earlier days, and shed light on what could have led to Hur’s “sympathetic” characterization and findings related to the investigation.
Biden reminisced during his interview with Special Counsel Robert Hur about a 2011 visit to Mangolia where he claimed to have “embarrassed the hell out of the leader of Mongolia.”
“I went to Mongolia and, and great pictures,” Biden said. “They were showing — they were doing a what they 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.”
Former President Joe Biden recalled his 2010s trip to Mongolia during the Hur interview. (Jacquelyn Martin/AP/Bloomberg via Getty Images)
He described being “out in the middle of nowhere” and looking up on a hill, seeing a tiny line of a 20-mile horse race between kids under the age of 16 on bareback.
“And you know, there are sumo wrestlers doin’ everything they do,” Biden said lightheartedly.
He said the leaders walked over to a target with bales of hay a hundred yards away, where locals were practicing their aim.
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“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,” Biden said. “I’m not a bad archer. But (indiscernible) where I can pull it back, so I — and pure luck, I hit the goddamn target.”
The people in the interview room burst into laughter, to which Biden assured them, “No, I really did.”
He went on to describe the scene — “20 bales of hay with a big target in the middle of the bale of hay.”
Former special counsel Robert K. Hur testifies before the House Judiciary Committee on March 12, 2024 in Washington, DC. Hur investigated U.S. President Joe Biden’s mishandling of classified documents and published a final report with contentious conclusions about Biden’s memory. (Win McNamee/Getty Images)
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“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,” Biden said.
The room roared with laughter once again.
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“I was like, ‘oh, God,’” Biden said through the cackling.
Hur ultimately decided the former president should not be charged criminally for having classified Obama-era documents after leaving office, describing him as a “sympathetic, well-meaning, elderly man with a poor memory.”
