Biden said Israel's response in Gaza to the October 7 Hamas attack was "greatly exaggerated" and brought up his contacts with leaders in the region to emphasize his role in bringing humanitarian aid to Gaza. However, Biden made a gaffe by mentioning Mexico, which shares a border with the United States, instead of Egypt, which shares a border with Gaza.
Biden said, "As you know, at first Mexican President Sisi did not want to open the door for humanitarian aid to enter.
I talked to him, I convinced him." Abdel Fattah al-Sisi is the President of Egypt, not Mexico.
Biden had contacted Sisi last November to open Egypt's border crossing with Gaza, Rafah, to allow aid in. After a phone call on November 19, Biden said Sisi had agreed to open the Rafah border crossing to allow 20 trucks to reach Gaza.
Robert Hur, the special prosecutor investigating the allegation that Biden removed some classified documents from the White House during his time as vice president, said in the report made public on Thursday that Biden's memory has "serious limitations" and that he forgets important dates.
Referring to his interviews with Biden for the report, Hur said the president could not recall the dates of events during the Barack Obama era, and could not even "pinpoint" the date of his son Beau's death.
Biden defended himself at the press conference, saying there was nothing wrong with his memory and that the five-hour interview with him took place shortly after the October 7 Hamas attacks on Israel that started the war in the region.
