Kamala Harris launches into fiery defence of Biden as she slams ‘integrity’ of special counsel

Vice president hits out at Special Counsel Robert Hur after the Republican prosecutor attacked Mr Biden’s memory

Vice President Kamala Harris on Friday came out swinging with a full-throated defence of President Joe Biden in the wake of an unflattering report on his conduct by a Republican special prosecutor.

Ms Harris was speaking in the Indian Treaty Room at the Eisenhower Executive Office Building at an event hosted by the White House’s gun violence prevention office when she addressed the matter of Mr Hur’s report, which critics have assailed as including gratuitous attacks on the president even as it announced that he will not face any criminal charges stemming from the discovery of classified documents at his Delaware home.

She said she has been “privileged and proud to serve as vice president of the United States” under Mr Biden, and said Mr Hur’s remarks on Mr Biden’s age and memory were “gratuitous, inaccurate, and inappropriate”. 

Ms Harris also noted that the interview with Mr Biden which figured prominently in Mr Hur’s report took place just after the 7 October Hamas attacks on Israel.

“It was an intense moment for the commander-in-chief of the United States of America. And I was in almost every meeting with the president in the hours and days that followed. Countless hours with the secretary of defense, the secretary of state, the heads of our intelligence community, and the president was in front of it and on top of it all, asking questions and requiring that America’s military and intelligence community and diplomatic community would figure out and know how many people were dead, how many are Americans, how many hostages,” she said.

“He was in front of it all, coordinating and directing leaders in charge of America’s national security, not to mention our allies around the globe.”

Ms Harris added that “the way that the presidents demeanour” had been characterised by Mr Hur “could not be more wrong on the facts”.

“Clearly, it was politically motivated and gratuitous,” she said. “I will say that when it comes to the role and responsibility of a prosecutor in a situation like that, we should expect there would be a higher level of integrity and than what we saw.”