The audio fed into ongoing Republican efforts to portray Biden as mentally unfit for the presidency at the end of his term and to allege that Democrats hid that fact from the public. “Coverup of the century,” Tennessee Rep. Andy Ogles said in a social media post on X. “Reminder: this is the same guy who had the nuclear codes.”

In a 2023 recording former President Joe Biden at times speaks haltingly, having what appears to be repeated memory lapses as he speaks about his handling of classified documents as vice president. The recording of Biden's five plus hours of interviews with special counsel Robert Hur held over two sessions were released by Axios on May 16.

Former President Joe Biden's speech is marked with long pauses and a halting delivery in a recording of his interview about classified documents released Friday.