Democrats are defending President Joe Biden after a report on his handling of classified documents raised concerns about his age and mental fitness.
Mr Biden will not be charged for keeping classified documents, but the report cast him as a “well-meaning, elderly man with a poor memory”.
Vice-President Kamala Harris slammed the description as “gratuitous, inaccurate and inappropriate”.
She also alleged the prosecutor was “clearly politically motivated”.
Robert Hur, a Donald Trump appointee who has previously clerked for two well-known conservative judges, was appointed to lead the Biden classified document probe last year.
His selection by US Attorney General Merrick Garland that January came as the justice department faced criticism from Republicans over a separate special counsel appointment to investigate Donald Trump’s alleged mishandling of top secret files.
But Mr Hur’s publicly-released report included a letter from the White House asking that the comments about the president’s memory be revised “in a manner that is within the bounds of your expertise and remit”.
Ms Harris, who has previously served as a prosecutor, echoed that criticism at a news conference on Friday.
“The way that the president’s demeanour in that report was characterised could not be more wrong on the facts, and clearly politically motivated,” she said.
“When it comes to the role and responsibility of a prosecutor in a situation like that, we should expect there would be a higher level of integrity.”
But Democrats who spoke to the BBC on Friday said they remain unconcerned about the president’s mental faculties.
Summing up his takeaways from the report, Senator Jon Ossoff from Georgia said: “No charges recommended. Unusual commentary straying from what one would typically expect in a focused and substantive report. Ultimately just noise.”
The youngest member of the Senate, Mr Ossoff emphasised that he had spent a “substantial amount of time” with the president in recent months.
“I’ve found him to be sharp, focused, impressive, formidable and effective,” he said.
Mr Ossoff’s colleagues agreed, including Senator Chris Van Hollen of Maryland, who called the president “thoughtful and experienced” at a Friday news conference.
Democrats remain “absolutely confident” in the president, he said. “We want to stick with somebody who understands what this country needs.”
In recent months, both Mr Biden and Mr Trump have made a series of public errors while publicly speaking, confusing names of world leaders and US politicians on several occasions.
But Mr Trump’s bombastic style and “constant offensive posture” may fuel perceptions of him as a more energetic candidate, said Chris Borick, the director of the Muhlenberg College Institute of Public Opinion.
Worries about Mr Trump’s age “don’t seem to stick in the same way”, he said.
But for Mr Biden, his campaign will have to be focused on addressing the perception that he is not mentally fit for office.
Source BBC news
