Biden campaign call sidetracked by fitness questions, surrogates insist he is ‘in full control’

A campaign call in support of President Biden did not go as planned after reporters asked a series of questions regarding recent reports of the president’s failing memory.

In what was supposed to be a conference call about former President Trump and his upcoming speech to the National Rifle Association, press officials asked reporters to stay on topic after questions veered to Special Counsel Robert Hur’s recent report.

“Sen. Fetterman, I was hoping to ask you a question given some of the recent news,” the first reporter said to Pennsylvania Sen. John Fetterman. “You faced questions about your health during the campaign. I’m wondering what you think the Biden campaign needs to do today to respond to what special counsel Hur said in his report and the new concerns surrounding his fitness for office.”

NO CHARGES FOR BIDEN AFTER SPECIAL COUNSEL PROBE INTO IMPROPER HANDLING OF CLASSIFIED DOCUMENTS

U.S. Sen. John Fetterman (D-PA) speaks to reporters before a Senate luncheon at the U.S. Capitol in Washington, D.C. (Kevin Dietsch/Getty Images)

“Of course, the president was very clear that he is absolutely in full control. And you really have to remember this, too. You have a Trump appointee now that’s 350 pages to just say that Joe Biden isn’t going to be indicted here too,” the Democratic senator responded. “It was just a smear and cheap shots and just taking things out of context or even just inventing any of them. You don’t need 350 pages to say that we’re not going to have these kinds of changes. So clearly, there is an agenda there.”

That question was followed by another on the same topic. “How can the current discussion around Biden’s age impact your Democratic colleagues running in Congress who are also elderly?” the next reporter asked.

“Yes. Okay. We know President Biden is old, okay?,” responded Democratic Florida Rep. Maxwell Frost.

BIDEN ‘DID NOT REMEMBER WHEN HE WAS VICE PRESIDENT,’ WHEN HIS SON BEAU DIED, DURING SPECIAL COUNSEL INTERVIEWS

President Biden delivers remarks at the White House in Washington, D.C. (REUTERS/Kevin Lamarque)

He continued, “But it doesn’t sound like breaking news to me. But what sounds like news to me is, number one, 15 million jobs being created, wages being up, inflation coming down. That sounds like news.”

Hur has been investigating Biden’s improper retention of classified records since last year. The papers included classified documents about military and foreign policy in Afghanistan, among other national security and foreign policy records, which Hur said implicated “sensitive intelligence sources and methods.”

The report contained an eye-opening portion on how Biden struggled to remember when he served as vice president in the Obama administration while being interviewed for the investigation. Additionally, Hur’s office believed Biden’s lawyers would use those “limitations” in his recall if it went to trial.

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Rep. Maxwell Frost, D-Fla., speaks at a meeting of the House Oversight Committee.

“In his interview with our office, Mr. Biden’s memory was worse,” the report states. “He did not remember when he was vice president, forgetting on the first day of the interview when his term ended (‘if it was 2013 — when did I stop being Vice President?’), and forgetting on the second day of the interview when his term began (‘in 2009, am I still Vice President?’).”

“He did not remember, even within several years, when his son Beau died,” the report continued. “And his memory appeared hazy when describing the Afghanistan debate that was once so important to him. Among other things, he mistakenly said he ‘had a real difference’ of opinion with General Karl Eikenberry, when, in fact, Eikenberry was an ally whom Mr. Biden cited approvingly in his Thanksgiving memo to President Obama.”

Hur announced he would not seek criminal charges against Biden.

Fox News Digital’s Joe Schoffstall, Brooke Singman, David Spunt and Jake Gibson contributed to this report.