Fact Check: Donald Trump Repeats Joe Biden Court Claim to Laura Ingraham

Donald Trump's interview with Fox News' Laura Ingraham on Tuesday was littered with misinformation and controversy, which included comparing himself to deceased Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny.

The former president compared his fraud ruling in New York to Navlany's persecution, telling Ingraham: "It's a form of Navalny, it's a form of communism or fascism."

Among Trump's other claims, he said President Joe Biden had been ruled "incompetent to go to court" and couldn't "represent himself" at trial.

The Claim

In an interview with Fox News' Laura Ingraham, broadcast on February 20, 2024, Donald Trump said: "He's (Joe Biden) at great jeopardy, really, but they said: 'Look, he's incompetent to go to court but he can be president.'

"Figure that one. In other words, he can't represent himself at court because he's incompetent."

The Facts

Trump appears to be referring to Special Counsel Robert Hur's recent report into Biden's handling of classified documents.

Hur's report did not say that Biden was "incompetent to go to court." A similar claim, made by Georgia Republican Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene, was recently debunked by Newsweek.

Hur's assessment included judgments about Biden's ability to recall events in his life, where he stored classified documents, and whom he shared sensitive information with.

Hur said any trial would take years to bring to court and, in that situation, Biden "would likely present himself to a jury, as he did during our interview of him, as a sympathetic, well-meaning, elderly man with a poor memory."

He added: "It would be difficult to convince a jury they should convict him—by then a former president who will be at least well into his eighties—of a serious felony that requires a mental state of willfulness."

The report said that Biden could not remember when he was vice president, when that term ended, when it began and "even within several years when his son Beau died."

Hur's assessment was refuted by Biden and the White House.

Also, the report does not state that Biden was "incompetent to go to court" as Trump claims.

Hur argued that if, hypothetically, Biden were to stand trial over his handling of confidential documents, it would require a "mental state of willfulness", a challenge that would be more demanding by Biden's age at that point.

While Hur stated Biden was an "elderly man with a poor memory", this is distinct from mental competency to stand trial, which is assessed by psychiatric evaluation.

Hur added that "relatively few people are prosecuted" in their eighties and while Biden "must be accountable for his actions, he is, after all, the President of the United States."

He added: "Based on our direct observations of him, Mr. Biden is someone for whom many jurors will want to search for reasonable doubt."

Newsweek has contacted media representatives for Donald Trump and the White House via email for comment.

Trump's claim about Biden's incompetency was not the only misleading statement he shared during his interview with Ingraham. The former president said "you automatically have fraud" when mail-in voting systems are used. Ingraham said in response that "there is mail-in voting in Florida and you won huge."

Trump has continued, during his Republican presidential primary campaign, to repeat the false claim that the 2020 presidential election was stolen from him.

The Ruling

False.

Trump's claim appears to be based on Special Counsel Robert Hur's investigation into Joe Biden's handling of classified documents.

Hur said that if Biden was charged, it would take years to bring to trial, at which point the president would be "well into his eighties", an age that would make such a trial more demanding.

Hur said a jury would likely view him as "a well-meaning, elderly man with a poor memory." However, Hur did not make any assessments about Biden's ability to stand trial, and there is no evidence that questions this.

FACT CHECK BY Newsweek's Fact Check team