Nikki Haley says Biden lacks the 'mental capacity' to serve as president after Hur report

WASHINGTON — Former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley blasted President Joe Biden after a scathing report from special counsel Robert Hur that was described Biden as a “well-meaning elderly man with a poor memory.”

The report, which came Thursday after a year-long probe examining whether Biden mishandled classified documents, concluded that the president will not face charges. However, investigators claimed Biden’s memory “appeared hazy” when discussing the war in Afghanistan.

“Yesterday was a wakeup call for the country. The White House is not a taxpayer-subsidized nursing home. It is clear to most Americans that Biden lacks the mental capacity to effectively serve as president,” Haley wrote on X, the social media platform formerly known as Twitter.

The report also alleged that Biden couldn’t remember when he served as vice president or the exact year his son Beau died. Biden's team angrily rejected those claims in a letter to Hur and at a Friday afternoon briefing where a spokesman for the White House counsel's office, Ian Sams, made a rare appearance to field reporters' questions.

Biden personally rebuffed the special counsel in hastily-arranged remarks on Thursday night at the White House. "How in the hell dare he raise that?" he said of Beau's death. "I don't need anybody to remind me when he passed away."

White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said Friday that the president's physician told her last year that he did not believe Biden needed a cognitive test. Jean-Pierre said Biden would take another physical this year, and the White House would share the results. In response to a question about Haley's comments, she did not say if the president was considering a mental competency test as part of his next exam.

Haley has said that any politician over the age of 75 should take a competency test, including former President Donald Trump, who she attacked again on Friday in the same statement in which she slammed Biden.

“Donald Trump has his own mental deficiencies, is prone to temper tantrums and wild rants, and confuses countries and who was in charge of Capitol security on January 6,” Haley wrote on Friday.

Haley was referring to Trump’s mixup at a rally in New Hampshire days before the state’s primary last month, where he conflated Haley with former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif, when discussing security of the U.S. Capitol before the insurrection of Jan. 6, 2021. Trump has repeatedly and falsely claimed that Pelosi rejected an offer for to deploy 10,000 National Guard troops that day.

“I have long said the first party to retire its 80-year-old candidate will win the White House. Democrats appear on their way to doing just that. Trump runs about even with the enfeebled Biden; he would get crushed by a Democrat with a pulse,” Haley added.

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Nikki Haley blasts Biden after release of classified docs report