WASHINGTON — First Lady Jill Biden is deeply offended and personally motivated to respond after special counsel Robert Hurt. released its report last week The president claimed he did not remember when his son died and had difficulty recalling other key details, according to two people with knowledge of the discussions.
As Joe Biden’s wife for more than 46 years, she is considered the president’s most trusted adviser and fiercest defender. That’s why, the people said, he played a role in crafting the deeply personal statement Biden’s re-election campaign shared Saturday night, a rarity among more standard campaign correspondence with supporters.
In the email, the first lady called the criticism of the president’s memory “inaccurate” and nothing more than “personal political attacks”.
“I have no idea what this Special Counsel is trying to accomplish,” he wrote. “We have to give everyone grace and I can’t imagine anyone trying to use our son’s death to score political points. If you’ve experienced a loss like this, you know that you don’t measure it in years—you measure it in grief. May 30 is a day engraved in our hearts forever. He tore me apart, he tore our family apart.”
Jill Biden’s message on Saturday raised more money than any other email the campaign has sent since the president launched his re-election campaign in April, a campaign official said. The man did not say how much it increased.
The lengthy statement did not include a specific financial plea to supporters, but there was a donation button at the end of the note signed: “Love, Jill.”
A person close to the first lady said she wanted to put the reference to Beau Biden’s death in “real American mother terms.”
Biden’s response was “from the heart” as he called the president’s claim that he did not know when his son died “beyond the pale” and said he felt the “attacks” on his age were “fair.” imprecise”.
“He wanted to make it clear that the American people benefited every day of every one of his 81 years,” he said. “He does more in an hour than most people do in a day—he sees it more than anyone else.”
The first lady repeated an argument made by President and Vice President Kamala Harris after the report was released, calling the report “politically motivated” and “unsubstantiated.”
The decision to speak out was easy for the first lady, according to a senior campaign adviser who said she did not hesitate.
“If the special prosecutor is going to use her dead son as a political weapon, she’s going to have something to say about it – so she said,” the adviser said.
Biden is expected to be an active campaigner and fundraiser for her husband in the next nine months, according to two people familiar with her schedule.
“As with all of the president’s campaigns, the First Lady will be an effective messenger on the trail,” said Seth Schuster, a spokesman for the Biden campaign. “As a teacher, mother and grandmother, she is uniquely positioned to connect with key constituencies across the country and speak to the President’s vision for America. The first lady’s reliable vote will play a decisive role in mobilizing the voters we need to win in November.”