President Trump’s indictments are paying dividends for the Democrats, as they use the former president’s legal peril to defend the actions of President Biden. During a hearing with the former special counsel who accused Mr. Biden of being mentally diminished, Democrats played videos of the former president forgetting key details of his own life and drawing contrasts between the two men’s handling of classified information. 

The former special counsel, Robert Hur, in his appearance before the House Judiciary Committee on Tuesday, defended his investigation and his decision to not prosecute the incumbent president.

“We did not find evidence … that rose to the level of proof beyond a reasonable doubt. Because the evidence fell short of that standard, I declined to recommend criminal charges against Mr. Biden,” Mr. Hur told the committee. He resigned his position at the Department of Justice on Monday and testified as a private citizen, freeing him from department regulations that do not allow employees to testify about or share materials belonging to the department.

Mr. Hur said in his report that Mr. Biden, even if he were not the incumbent president, would still not be prosecuted for his mishandling of classified information, saying that a jury may find him to be too much of a “well-meaning, elderly man with a poor memory” to be worthy of a conviction. 

When Republicans pressed Mr. Hur on whether he personally found that Mr. Biden was “senile,” the former special counsel responded: “I did not.”

Democrats were quick to ignore sections of Mr. Hur’s report that found Mr. Biden “willfully” retained classified information at his homes and his offices while he was a private citizen. They then turned their attention straight to Mr. Trump, who is being prosecuted not only for hoarding classified documents at his Mar-a-Lago estate after leaving the White House but also for obstructing justice by not returning the documents to the federal government when asked. 

“This is a distraction from the 91 state and federal charges that Donald Trump faces now. His staggering civil court losses in New York now total more than half a billion dollars,” a committee member, Congressman Jamie Raskin, said. 

In order to refute some of the allegations that Mr. Biden is mentally diminished, the top Democrat on the committee, Congressman Jerry Nadler, used part of his opening statement at the hearing to play a video showing Mr. Trump forgetting key dates and misspeaking at rallies. 

In the video, Mr. Trump refers to the Hungarian prime minister, Viktor Orban, as the “leader of Turkey,” forgets the years that he was married to his second wife, and confuses Mr. Biden with President Obama. “That is a man who is wholly unfit for office,” Mr. Nadler said at the conclusion of the video.   

Mr. Hur himself was forced by Congresswoman Madeleine Dean to read aloud a section of his report that detailed Mr. Trump’s alleged obstruction of justice and refusal to hand over documents when asked.

“Unlike the evidence involving Mr. Biden, the allegations set forth in the indictment of Mr. Trump,  if proven — would present serious, aggravating facts,” Mr. Hur read. “Most notably, after being given multiple chances to return classified documents and avoid prosecution, Mr. Trump allegedly did the opposite. According to the indictment, he not only refused to return the documents for many months, but he also obstructed justice.”

Mr. Hur was pressed by Republicans often on the issue of Mr. Biden’s mental acuity. In his report to Attorney General Garland, Mr. Hur cites an instance where Mr. Biden forgot which year he became vice president and forgot which year he left the vice presidency. Mr. Hur also says Mr. Biden forgot the year of Beau Biden’s death. 

According to a transcript of the interview released by the justice department on Tuesday, Mr. Hur’s summation of those instances is accurate. Mr. Biden did remember that his son had died on May 30, but could not remember the exact year. A lawyer in the room with the president had to remind him that his son died in 2015. 

Mr. Biden also wondered aloud if he was president in 2009 and could not remember if he left the vice presidency in either 2013 or 2017. He also stated at one point that Mr. Trump had been elected in November 2017.