TGIF Blogcast: Andy McCarthy on SCOTUS CO case; Biden's "elderly" defense

Special Counsel: Joe Biden is "an elderly man with a poor memory"

A special counsel investigating Joe Biden’s possession of classified documents has determined that Biden did illegally have such documents but that charges would not be filed because they were unlikely to be provable beyond a reasonable doubt. Part of the explanation was that Biden would seem to a jury “as a sympathetic, well-meaning, elderly man with a poor memory.” Wow.

Here's the report: Report on the Investigation Into Unauthorized Removal, Retention, and Disclosure of Classified Documents Discovered at Locatinos Including the Penn Biden Center and the Delaware Private Residence of President Joseph R. Biden, Jr. (justice.gov)

From the report:

In his interview with our office, Mr. Biden’s memory was worse. 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. 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. Eiden cited approvingly in his Thanksgiving memo to President Obama.

In a case where the government must prove that Mr. Biden knew he had possession of the classified Afghanistan documents after the vice presidency and chose to keep those documents, knowing he was violating the law, we expect that at trial, his attorneys would emphasize these limitations in his recall.

And this man is president and could well be president for another 4 years given that Republicans seem determined to nominate the only guy who could lose to Biden. (Not saying Trump would lose, just that he could whereas Haley would crush Biden and bring along House and Senate seats as well. Nominating Trump is a huge mistake.)

Special Counsel Account of Joe Biden's Mental Decline Is Frightening | National Review

Biden Not to Face Charges Due to 'Diminished Faculties,' Hur Says (dailysignal.com)

Biden’s Doddering Document Defense - WSJ

The special counsel did address differences between the Biden case and the Trump case:

...after being given multiple chances to return classified documents avoid prosecution, Mr. Trump allegedly did the opposite. According to the indictment, he not only refused to return documents for months, but he also obstructed justice by enlisting others to destroy evidence and then to lie about it. In contrast, Mr. Biden alerted authorities, turned in classified documents to the National Archives and the Department of Justice in 2022 and 2023, consented to the search of multiple locations including his homes, permitted the seizure and review of handwritten notebooks he believed to be his personal property, and in numerous other ways cooperated with the investigation.

Unsurprisingly, Donald Trump is using the decision to attack the fact that he's being prosecuted for having documents as well. The cases are somewhat different but probably not to the public and certainly not to Trump supporters. I think Trump's big problem stems not from having the documents but from lying about possessing them and then trying to hide them from the FBI. In any case, here's a statement from Trump after the Biden news:

THIS HAS NOW PROVEN TO BE A TWO-TIERED SYSTEM OF JUSTICE AND UNCONSTITUTIONAL SELECTIVE PROSECUTION! The Biden Documents Case is 100 times different and more severe than mine. I did nothing wrong, and I cooperated far more. What Biden did is outrageously criminal - He had 50 years of documents, 50 times more than I had, and “WILLFULLY RETAINED” them. I was covered by the Presidential Records Act, Secret Service was always around, and GSA delivered the documents. Deranged Jack Smith should drop this Case immediately. ELECTION INTERFERENCE.

MAJOR UPDATE: Joe Biden gave a press conference on Thursday evening and it wasn't great

I'm guessing that two things caused this presser to happen: First, Biden was probably furious that the special counsel's report said that Biden couldn't remember when his son, Beau, died. Second, overall the conclusion of the report that Biden could not be convicted because the jury would see him as elderly and with a poor memory probably caused his communications team to go into full damage-control mode.

He did OK...but he still seemed old. And he seemed angry, but that's understandable. It didn't help that he called the president of Egypt the "president of Mexico."

He did have a good line when Peter Ducey of Fox News asked Biden "how bad is your memory" and Biden answered, "My memory is so bad I let you speak." Pretty good line.

But the overarching thing was the tone from reporters: it wasn't a great look for Biden that so many reporters, most of whom were NOT from conservative media, were yelling at him, asking if he's too old to do the job and why he should be the Democratic candidate.

This is an issue that will dog Biden for as long as he remains a candidate for president (and as long as he remains president, whether for 1 term or 2.)

And this doesn't help Biden's case that he's just fine: Biden confuses European leaders with dead predecessors twice in a week (axios.com)

Clearly his staff don't want him in front of the public any more than necessary, even for an interview that's traditionally very short and very easy: President Biden to skip second consecutive Super Bowl interview, citing Americans’ politics fatigue | CNN Politics

Just One Thing: SCOTUS likely to overturn CO in Trump ballot access case

Based on questions even from the more liberal justices, the Supreme Court seems likely to overturn the Colorado State Supreme Court’s ruling that Donald Trump can be barred from the ballot in his quest for another presidential term. I think we have one of the worst state supreme courts in the country and that the state ruling was wrong on the law as well as having disastrous long-term implications for the country.

Good analysis here, and we'll also have Andy McCarthy on at 11 AM to discuss.

Supreme Court appears unlikely to kick Trump off Colorado ballot - SCOTUSblog

Tucker Carlson interviews Vladimir Putin

Many people scoffed when Tucker announced this interview, assuming Tucker's approach would be soft-ball questions betraying Tucker's pro-Putin bias but that's not what happened.

Tucker asked real questions about important topics and did not ask them in way that media in America, for example, usually tosses softballs to Democrats (although they didn't last night during Biden's hasty presser!). Tucker also let Putin get away with plenty of lies and misdirection.which was unfortunate but it would have been fruitless to engage in endless real-time fact-checking of a guy whom everyone knows to be a master propagandist and congenital liar. The interview is worth watching though you can skip roughly the first half-hour which is a long Putin rant about the history of Ukraine vis-a-vis Russia. It's a 2-hour interview so I recommend you click on the little gear icon and play it back faster than 1x speed.

Today's Guests

If you watch Fox News, you've seen Jimmy Failla. Having met Jimmy in person, I can tell you that the dude is naturally hilarious in the way that only an Italian former NYC taxi driver can be. He talks like, well, a cab driver, dresses like Liberace, and takes public pride in being a trophy husband who bets on youth sports.

Jimmy is a busy dude, with a new Fox Nation special, "Taxi Cab Comedy" Jimmy Failla returns to roots as taxi cab driver for 'honest' chats with strangers about state of the country (msn.com) and he now hosts his own nationally syndicated radio program, "Fox Across America with Jimmy Failla". Huge congrats for that success...and he's not done: Jimmy has a new book out entitled "Cancel Culture Dictionary: An A to Z Guide to Winning the War on Fun."

Book link: Cancel Culture Dictionary: An A to Z Guide to Winning the War on Fun: Failla, Jimmy: 9780063325685: Amazon.com: Books

One person's take on the book: Comic Jimmy Failla’s ‘Cancel Culture’ guide is a must-read (yahoo.com)

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Rob Johnson is a senior attorney at Institute for Justice. He'll give us an update on a case that he explained to us a couple of months ago in which the FBI raided a safe-deposit box storage facility because they had suspicious about the company that owned the facility -- but had no warrants to open any boxes. Instead, the FBI opened all the boxes and then tried to keep the contents of any box in excess of $5,000 in value. It was obviously theft. It was disgusting. The people who did it should be fired and imprisoned. And yet a lower court sided with the FBI. Now we have the result of the appeal at the Ninth Circuit and it is A Spanking for the FBI - WSJ

Rob Johnson - Institute for Justice (ij.org)

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Julie Taulman is President and CEO of the National Sports Center for the Disabled. We'll talk about this wonderful organization and their annual enormous event coming up in a couple of weeks, the Wells Fargo Ski Cup. I'll do my show from Winter Park that day, as I have for quite a few years in a row now.

NSCD: Recreation & competitive programs for people with disabilities.

48th Annual Wells Fargo Ski Cup - NSCD

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My good friend Andy McCarthy is a former federal prosecutor, a contributing editor at National Review, a Fox News contributor, and a proud dad of a college athlete. He joins us to talk about both of the legal stories noted above: The SCOTUS oral arguments and the Biden classified documents.

Most of Andy's writing is at National Review though you can also find his stuff from time to time at the NY Post, The Hill, and elsewhere. Andrew C. McCarthy | National Review

Other Stuff

Very interesting new rule from the FCC: The FCC bans robocalls with AI-generated voices (msn.com)

Official press release: DOC-400393A1.pdf (fcc.gov)

What i find particularly interesting is the idea that an AI voice cannot be used in robocalls even if the robocalls are for a legitimate purpose (I know it's hard to think they ever are) and the voice is not designed to fool people into thinking that it's a particular other person, i.e. a politician or celebrity or friend or relative of the person receiving the call. FCC Commissioner Brendan Carr, in a reply to an email I sent him, added this: "The key is whether the call is initiated using an artificial voice (including AI-voice) or a prerecord voice. If an actual live human is the first thing you hear when you pick up the phone, it is fine if AI or other precorded stuff comes on the line later. So even a call originator that has a legit intent and purpose, can’t initiate a call using artificial or precorded voice, even if the content is legit."

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Weaker, but he'll still crush Trump. Wonder if Haley could pull out a win here...I used to think "no way" but now I'm thinking "unlikely but not impossible." Too bad GOP base voters aren't clever enough to pick a candidate who didn't spend the last 6 years destroying the party.

President Biden's popularity weaker in Colorado, new poll shows - Axios Denver

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What's your most-loved and most-hated Superbowl-watching food? Study finds the top ‘good luck’ game day foods (nypost.com)

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Reality bites: A Progressive California Epiphany Over Soaring Electricity Rates - WSJ

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That's one way to take a station off the air: Someone stole a Jasper radio station’s 200-foot tower, owner says - al.com

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Already 1 million illegals this fiscal year: CBP migrant encounters already exceed 1 million since October | Fox News

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Interesting: Caitlin Clark’s NCAA Scoring Record Will Have an Asterisk - WSJ

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