CBS anchor confronts Biden's attorney with important question that crumbles his narrative about the special counsel report

President Joe Biden's personal attorney repeatedly attacked special counsel Robert Hur's report on Sunday but did not immediately support releasing the transcripts of Biden's interviews with Hur.

Democrats are outraged that Hur described Biden as an "elderly man with a poor memory" in his report. Specifically, Hur's critics assert that the special counsel included superfluous and gratuitous details in the report, such as Biden forgetting when his son Beau died and forgetting when he was vice president.

On CBS' "Face the Nation," Biden's personal attorney, Bob Bauer — whose wife is senior Biden adviser Anita Dunn — attacked Hur's report as a "shabby work product" that contains "factual misstatements" and "pejorative comments" that Bauer claimed "are inconsistent with DOJ policy and norms."

The strong comments may be compelling because Bauer attended Biden's interviews with Hur. But his commentary immediately began to crumble when host Margaret Brennan started asking questions.

At first, Brennan asked Bauer if the president had "problems recalling details" in the interviews with Hur. Bauer, however, did not directly answer the question, instead saying that Biden "gave his best recollection" to the questions.

After Bauer then confirmed that transcripts of Biden's interviews do exist, Brennan asked an important question that undercut Bauer's narrative.

"Do you favor releasing them?" she asked of the transcripts.

"Well, it's really a decision that has to take place within the government. It's a classified document," Bauer responded.

"Would you recommend that these be made public if they indeed back up your personal recollection?" Brennan followed up.

"Again, there's a process under way. I'm not a specialist in that process. And so I really have to defer to those who have to work through those issues," Bauer deflected.

If, as the president's defenders claim, the details about Biden's memory were unfair and unethical, why not demand that the transcripts be released?

It's true that the interviews contain classified information. But those details can easily be redacted from the transcripts.

Appealing to classified information within the transcripts, then, is a deflection. Either the transcripts show that Biden could not recall basic details about his life or they don't. And if the transcripts confirm what Hur reported, then his report is not a "shabby work product," as Bauer claimed, but a truth-telling document that shows Hur refused to bow to political pressure.

In fact, Bauer does not dispute the truthfulness of Hur's report. Rather, he is upset that Hur included details about Biden's memory in the report. That's an important distinction.

But as former U.S. Attorney Chuck Rosenberg explained, details about Biden's memory were critical to Hur's report because the special counsel needed to explain why he is not prosecuting Biden despite finding ample evidence that Biden broke the law.

"It doesn't make sense to me that if I'm telling the attorney general of the United States why someone ought not to be prosecuted that I wouldn't also tell him exactly why I came to that conclusion," Rosenberg said last Friday.

White House spokesman Ian Sams said on Friday that officials would consider seeking the release of a redacted version of the Biden transcripts.

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