Newly released audio recordings of President Joe Biden’s 2023 Justice Department interview have sparked fresh debate over his cognitive abilities and fitness to continue in office. The recordings, published by Axios on Friday, provide insight into Biden’s halting speech and memory lapses during questioning by special counsel Robert Hur. This has reignited the conversation about Biden’s age and mental acuity, especially as he prepares for a potential second term.
The audio, recorded as part of an investigation into Biden’s handling of classified documents after his vice presidency, reveals the president struggling with basic facts and dates. One four-minute clip features Biden being questioned about the location of his documents shortly after leaving office. His answers are marked by long pauses, and his voice sometimes sounds hoarse. His speech falters further when discussing the death of his son, Beau Biden, showing noticeable difficulty recalling significant events.
In particular, Biden has trouble remembering the year of Beau’s death and the year Donald Trump was elected president. Throughout the interview, Biden’s staff can be heard gently correcting him, reminding him of the specific years.
The release of this audio follows the publication of a transcript by the White House in 2024. However, the audio’s emotional tone and Biden’s verbal delivery give a different context to the transcript, underscoring his cognitive struggles.
The special counsel’s report, issued in February 2024, stated that while Biden “willfully retained” classified documents, Hur ultimately did not recommend charging the president with a crime. Hur explained that Biden’s memory lapses made it difficult for a jury to find that he knowingly retained sensitive documents. His report depicted Biden as a well-meaning, elderly man with limited memory, a view that Biden’s legal team and many of his supporters have strongly rejected.
Biden himself was particularly outraged by Hur’s description of his memory issues, especially when it mentioned his son’s death. “There’s even a reference that I don’t remember when my son died,” Biden remarked publicly. “How in the hell dare he raise that? It wasn’t any of their business.”
His attorney, Bob Bauer, criticized Hur’s report as “inflammatory,” arguing that it contained “totally inappropriate and pejorative comments” about the president’s cognitive state. The White House also formally requested that the report be revised.
Following the release of the audio, Biden’s team maintained that the information was not new. “The transcripts were released by the Biden administration more than a year ago,” said Biden spokesperson Kelly Scully. “The audio does nothing but confirm what is already public.” Still, the public nature of the audio recording — highlighting Biden’s halting speech and memory struggles — has further complicated the narrative surrounding his cognitive abilities.
Biden, who was 80 years old at the time of the interview, faced public scrutiny over his age even before the release of the audio. The issue came to a head during his June 2025 debate against former President Donald Trump, in which Biden repeatedly struggled to complete sentences and appeared disoriented at times. His performance sparked widespread concerns within the Democratic Party and led to a growing pressure on him to withdraw from the presidential race.
Biden did indeed suspend his re-election campaign shortly after the debate, opening the door for Vice President Kamala Harris to become the Democratic nominee. The decision marked an abrupt shift in the Democratic Party’s leadership, shifting the focus to Harris, who was expected to continue the fight against Trump for the presidency.
Recent books offering a behind-the-scenes look at Biden’s presidency and 2024 campaign have revealed the internal struggles to manage concerns about his age and health. Biden’s aides worked diligently to manage his public image, often restricting unscripted moments and carefully managing his schedule to avoid difficult situations. These accounts suggest that many within Biden’s inner circle were aware of his cognitive challenges but were determined to keep him in the race for as long as possible.
After the debate performance, internal discussions intensified about Biden’s ability to carry on the campaign, and the pivot to Harris was made quickly, if not without internal disagreement. Harris’s polling numbers surged once she became the presumptive nominee, and the Democratic Party’s gamble to transition to her was seen as a strategic move to maintain momentum for the election.
For Republicans, the release of the audio has been seen as further proof of the concerns they have raised about Biden’s cognitive abilities. GOP lawmakers have seized on the recordings as evidence of the president’s declining health, using it to argue that Biden is not capable of serving another term. Trump, Biden’s Republican challenger, has repeatedly mocked the president’s memory struggles and used the recordings as ammunition in his campaign speeches.
Trump’s campaign has emphasized his own strength and mental acuity, contrasting Biden’s struggles with his own performance in the public eye. The recordings have given Trump a fresh opportunity to cast Biden as a leader who is no longer fit to serve, an argument he has been making since Biden’s age became a focal point during the 2024 election cycle.
Despite the negative media coverage and criticism, Biden has consistently denied any cognitive decline. In an appearance on The View, the president asserted, “There’s nothing to sustain that,” when asked about concerns over his mental health. He argued that forgetting details like dates is a natural part of being human and that such lapses shouldn’t be used to question his overall ability to lead.
He also expressed frustration over the ongoing scrutiny of his age, arguing that “age does not define ability.” Still, the mounting evidence — including the audio clips, the report from Hur, and the debate performance — has led many to reconsider the narrative surrounding Biden’s cognitive state and his suitability for another term in office.
As Vice President Kamala Harris takes the reins of the Democratic campaign, Biden’s legacy as president is being re-examined, with books, media reports, and internal memos offering a window into a political career that’s ending under unusual and controversial circumstances.
While Harris’s rise as the new Democratic nominee offers hope to some in the party, the ongoing public debate about Biden’s mental sharpness may continue to haunt the campaign. The release of the audio only adds to the growing questions about how Biden’s age and health will impact the future of American leadership.
The true impact of these audio recordings on the 2024 election remains to be seen, but what is clear is that Biden’s cognitive challenges will continue to be a key talking point in both parties’ campaigns. Whether these revelations hurt his legacy or bolster Harris’s chances remains one of the most pressing questions of the coming months.
