i spoke to that end i think people thought i was being hyperbolic at the time. what do you mean our democracy is at risk? i made a speech in independence hall. what do you mean we are in a battle for the soul of america? people do not say that anymore. they know the stakes are higher than ever. we have made more progress in three years because of you than most presidents have an eight years, but it could all be wiped out in the selection, so we have to stay focused on what we have to do. we must keep the white house, we must keep the senate, and we must take back the house. [applause] with all of you sworn in again and hakeem jeffries as speaker of the house, and when we do that we will be able to look up so many generations from today america democracy is working, and you saved it. it is who we are. we are the united states of

america. announcer: we leave these recorded remarks to take to live to president biden speaking from the white house. pres. biden: as you know the special counsel released its findings today looking into my handling of classified documents. i was pleased to see they reached a firm conclusion that no charges should be brought against me in this case. this was an exhaustive investigation going back more than 40 years beginning in the 1970's when i was still a new united states senator. the special counsel acknowledged i cooperated completely. i did not throw up roadblocks, i sought no delays. i was so determined to give the special counsel he needed i would afford with the five hour in person interview over two days on october 8 and ninth of last year even though it had just been attacked by hamas on the seventh and i was very

i was especially nice pleased to see special counsel make clear the distinction and difference between this case in mr. trump's case. the special counsel and i had several distinction materials between mr. trump's case and mr. biden are clear. after given notable chances to return classified documents toward prosecution, mr. trump allegedly did the opposite. according to the indictment he not only refused to return the document for many months. he also obstructed justice by enlisting others to destroy evidence and then lie about it. in contrast, mr. biden turned and calcified documents to the national archives and the department of justice consented to the search of multiple locations, including his home, sat for voluntary interviews and cooperated with the investigation. i've seen the headlines since the report was released about my

willful retention of documents. this is not only misleading, but just plain wrong. on page 215, if you had a chance, i know it's a thick document. on page 215 the reporting of the special counsel found the exact opposite. there is a shortage of evidence that i will fully retain classified materials related to afghanistan. on page 12, the special counsel also wrote for other documents, the decision to decline criminal charges was straightforward. the evidence suggest that mr. biden did not willfully retain these documents. the evidence said i did not willfully retain these documents. in addition, there's some attention paid to some language about my recollection of events. there is even referenced that i don't remember when my son died. how the hell dare he raise that. frankly, what i was asked the question what i talk to myself

about was none of their business. let me tell you something, some of you have commented, eyewear, since the day he died, the rosary he got. every memorial we hold a service attending my friends and family and the people loved him. i don't need anyone, i don't need anyone to remind me of when he passed away. simple truth is, i've sat for over two days of events going back 40 years. at the same time i was managing an international crisis, their task was to make a decision about whether to move forward with charges in this case. that's their decision to make. that's the council's decision to make. that's his job. they decided not to move forward . for any extraneous commentary, they don't know what they are talking about. it has no place in this report. the bottom line is, the matter

is now closed and i will continue what i have always focused on. my job to be president of the united states of america. thank you. i will take questions. >> president biden, something the special counsel said is one of the reasons you were not charges because, in his description, you are well mean elderly man with a poor memory. pres. biden: i am an elderly man and i know what the hell i am doing. i put the country back on its seat. i don't know -- i don't need his recommendation. >> can you continue as president? pres. biden: my memory is so bad i let you speak. my memory is fine. take a look at what i have done since i become president. no one thought i could pass any of the things i got past. how did that happen? i guess i just forgot what was going on. >> voters have concerns.

>> do you take responsibility about you being careless with classified material? pres. biden: i take responsibility for not having seen exactly what my staff was doing. things that came out of my garage, things that came out of my home. things that were moved not by me, but my staff. by my staff. for months you have been asked about your age and you have responded with the words, watch me. american people have been watching and have expressed concerns about your age. pres. biden: that is your judgment, that is not the judgment of the press. >> they expressed concern saying you are too old.

in december you told me that you believe there are many other democrats who could defeat donald trump. so why does it have to be you now? pres. biden: because i'm the most qualified person in this country to be president of the united states as -- and finish what i started. >> thank you, everyone. pres. biden: i did not share classified information. i did not share it. i did not. guarantee i did not. i did not say that. the fact of the matter is, what i didn't want repeated, i didn't read it to him was, i had written a long memorandum to president obama why we should not be in afghanistan. multiple pages. what i was referring to, i say classified, i should've said it should be private because it was a contact between a president

and vice president as to what was going on. that's what it is referring to. it was not classified information in that document. that was not classified. >> he called on me. when you look back at this incident, is there anything you would do differently now? do you think a special prosecutor should have been appointed in the first place in both of these cases? pres. biden: first of all, what i would have done is overseen the transfer of the material that was in my office. i should've done that. i did not have a responsibility of that, my staff was supposed to do that, and they referenced that in my report. my staff did not do that in the way -- for example, i did not know how half the boxes got in my garage until i found out

staff gathered them up, and put them in the garage of my home. all the stuff that was in my home was in filing cabinets that were locked. it was in my house, it was not out in mar-a-lago in a public place. none of it was high classified. it didn't have any of that red stuff on it. none of that. i wish i had paid more attention to how the documents were being moved and where. i thought they were being moved to the archives. i thought it all was being moved. what was the last part of your question? >> whether special counsel should have been appointed in your case and in the case of your arrival? pres. biden: i think a special counsel should have been appointed because i did not want to be in a position that they looked at trump and were not going to look at me. just like they looked at the vice president. the fact is, they made a firm conclusion. i did not break the law, period.

i am of the view, as you know, that the conduct of the response in the gaza strip has been over the top. i think that, as you know, initially, the president of mexico did not want to open up the gate to allow you military and material to get in. i talked to him. i convinced him to open the gate. i talked to bb to open the gate

on the israeli side. i've been pushing really hard, really hard to get humanitarian assistant into gaza. there are a lot of innocent people who are starving. a lot of innocent people are in trouble and dying. it has to stop. number one. number two, i was also in the position that i'm the guy that made the case that we have to do much more to increase the amount of material going in, including fuel, including other items. i have been on the phone with the qatari's, i have been on the phone with the egyptians and the saris to get as much aid as we possibly can into gaza. there are women and children who are also badly needing help. that is what we are pushing. i'm pushing very hard now to deal with this hostage cease fire. i have been working tirelessly in this deal. how can i say this without revealing, to lead to a sustained pause in the fighting

in the actions taking place in the gaza strip. because i think if we can get the delay for that, the initial delay, i think that we would be able to extend that so that we could increase the prospect that this fighting in gaza changes. there's also negotiations you may recall from the very beginning, right before hamas attack. i was in contact with the saudi's and others to work out a deal where they would recognize israel's right to exist, let them be a part of the middle east and recognize them fully. the return for certain things united states would commit to do in the commitment we were proposing to do related to two items, i'm not going to go into detail, but one of them was to deal with the protection against their arch enemy to the

northwest -- northeast, i should say. the second one, by providing ammunition and material for them to defend themselves. coincidentally, that is the timeframe when this broke out. i have no proof for what i'm about to say. there's not a reason to suspect that it was about to take place and wanted to break it up before it happens. >> thank you, everybody. we will need everybody to hold for a moment. >> c-span is your unfiltered view of government. we are funded by these television companies and more, including mediacom. >> at mediacom, we believe that what you see here, right here or in the middle of anywhere, you should have access to fast, reliable internet. that's why we are leading the way. >>