Sams says President Biden is going to appoint a task force to review the process of how one administration transitions to another "to ensure that there are better processees in place".

The Biden administration has blamed the flurry of events surrounding the president's transition from the White House in 2017 as partly responsible for misplaced confidential documents.

The new task force presumbly would help to monitor this situation in particular.

"We'll have more on that soon," Sams says.

Spokesman for the White House Counsel’s Office Ian Sams is speaking forcefully, re-affirming his points several times over.

He frequently tells reporters to "look at the report" and he uses the word "gratuitous" frequently to describe comments in the report about Biden's age and memory.

Gratuitous is a word that vice president Kamala Harris also used when talking about the subject in a speech made earlier today.

Sams also said that former Attorney General Eric Holder, from the Obama administration, has used the word when discussing the report.

Sams continues to defend Biden's diaries and what was in them, a key portion of evidence used in the report to suggest that Biden shared classified information from the diary with a ghost writer for his memoir.

"Going back to the beginning of the country, presidents keep diaries," he says.

"We should want our presidents to be thoughtful and deliberative about the decisions that they make on the most consequential issues of our time... We've entrusted presidents to be safe keepers of this information."

Reporters and now drilling into the differences between Donald Trump's classified documents case and that of Joe Biden.

Ian Sams does not want to comment on the Trump case, but says generally we are in a "pressurised, political" environment.

He again criticises what he has been calling "gratuitous" comments made in the special counsel report about Biden.

Spokesman for the White House Counsel’s Office Ian Sams is now answering questions.

He is asked about allegations in the report of Biden discussing classified documents, specifically with the ghost writer for his memoir.

Sams repeats what Biden has said, which is that "he has never discussed classified material".

Sams criticizes those accusations and calls them "false".

He says that of the three examples of evidence given in the report, two of them refer to information Biden kept in his diary.

"And those two passages from his diaries that he talked about with his ghostwriter weren't in the book," Sams says, referring to a memoir Biden later published.

"There's no classified information in the book. So I want to just make that point... there's a kind of an allegation of, you know, willfully taking a classified document that he talked about, with his ghost writer. That's false."

Image source, US Pool

Ian Sams from the White House Counsel Office continues by saying the remarks about Biden's age were excessive.

"Over the past 24 hours, we've actually seen legal experts and former prosecutors come out and give their analysis.

He cites former Attorney General Eric Holder, from the Obama administration saying the report "contains way too many gratuitous remarks and is flatly inconsistent with long standing traditions" of the Justice Department.

"You're left to wonder why this report spends time making gratuitous and inappropriate criticisms of the president," Sams says.

Sams is outlining how the case investigating President Biden differs from that of former President Trump.

"[Biden] never ever made any attempt to obstruct."

"He opened up every room in his family home and his beach house for comprehensive FBI searches."

"He sat for two days of interviews," Sams says, saying they occurred after the 7 October Hamas attacks against Israel.

Biden has said that the memory lapses pointed to in the report were partly due to the stress he was under at the time, responding to an "international crisis".

Here, Sams appears to be drawing a clear contrast between Biden and Trump who had repeated alleged attempts at deliberately dodging the FBI's search efforts.

Ian Sams from the White House Counsel's office is now speaking.

He starts by addressing last night's report. He emphasizes that the report found that "there was no case there".

"The case is closed," Sams says.

Karine Jean-Pierre has begun the White House press briefing by making remarks on the White House's iniatives to address gun violence.

Stay with us as we follow along.

Image source, Getty Images

After a delay, White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre is set to start the daily White House press briefing soon.

Despite her planned agenda, what is sure to be on the minds of most reporters is the 345-page report that dropped on Thursday which made several comments about President Joe Biden's mental aptitude.

The report by special counsel Robert Hur - which investigated Biden's alleged mishandling of classified documents - describes the president as a "well-meaning, elderly man with a poor memory".

Spokesman for the White House Counsel’s Office Ian Sams will also be at the briefing.

You can watch them live by pressing the play button at the top of this page.

Sam Cabral
Reporting from Capitol Hill

Image source, Reuters

The comments on President Biden's memory in the report are "outrageous", Minnesota Senator Tina Smith, a Democrat, told me.

"The way he disrespected and maligned the president, what he said about the president not remembering the death of his beloved son, is just so despicable," she said.

The senator said she had spent a full day with Biden less than a month ago, having breakfast and attending three back-to-back events together in her state.

"I watched him perform at the very top of his game all the way through it, both in private and in person," she said. "He knows what's going on, has the ability to connect with people and the ability to stay on top of the policy issues."

Of Hur, she said: "This is a Trump appointee who is, in my mind, just blatantly politicising something."

Smith declined to criticise Attorney General Merrick Garland but said he appeared to be "bending over backwards to not apply any political influence" over the investigation.

The White House will soon hold its daily press briefing, which today is held by Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre and National Security Council spokesman John Kirby.

That's scheduled to start at 13:00 ET (18:00 GMT).

Stay with us as we bring you the latest updates.

Kaylan Geiger
BBC Monitoring

In mainstream Egyptian media, Biden mistakenly calling President Abdul Fattah al-Sisi the president of Mexico was absent from reports on the US president’s speech, which were almost exclusively focused on his remarks about the Rafah crossing.

Domestic outlets were keen to report on the Egyptian presidency’s statement, external, reiterating that the border remained open on the Egyptian side.

Despite steering clear of Biden calling Sisi the Mexican president, many Egyptian outlets reported increasing concerns over the state of Biden’s health in view of his lapses in memory, external.

The state-run Al-Qahera News TV ran several reports focused on the “decline in popularity rates, external” of Biden in the US and interviews with political analysts, one of whom said American citizens “no longer trusts, external” Biden.

Key pan-Arab satellite channels based in the Gulf region reported on what the Saudi-funded Al Arabiya described as Biden’s latest “slip of the tongue, external”, with the outlet later saying the US president’s age was his “greatest weakness, external” as he seeks re-election.

The Qatari flagship Al Jazeera gave the gaffe less prominence in its report, external on Biden saying Sisi had initially refused to open the Rafah border crossing. The UAE-based Sky News Arabia highlighted calls, external among Republicans to invoke the 25th amendment and remove Biden from office.

Attention to Biden’s blunder, however, was overshadowed by coverage of the Gaza war.

Sam Cabral
Reporting from Capitol Hill

I caught up with Oregon Senator Jeff Merkley as he explained the importance of the memorandum released by the White House, which I mentioned earlier.

Agreeing it had been overshadowed by conversations about Biden's age, Merkley echoed his colleague from Georgia: "I think it was an entirely inappropriate way to approach the remit of the special counsel and the role of the special counsel."

"It's unfortunate it wandered into territory that was so inappropriate," he added, referring to commentary about Joe Biden's age and memory.

I asked if he had confidence that the president, if re-elected, could finish out another four-year term.

"Yes I do," he replied. "And we have to look at the success of the last four years. What we've done together - Congress and the president."

Listing off bipartisan achievements such as the infrastructure law, the Inflation Reduction Act and the CHIPS and Science Act, Merkley told me: "These were partnerships between an experienced president with a strong vision and a capable staff, working closely with Democratic leadership, and it was very successful."

"We intend to carry that success forward in partnership with the president."

But what should Biden do to turn around the growing public perception he is in mental decline, I asked him.

"I'll let you ask the president that," he said.

Sam Cabral
Reporting from Capitol Hill

I trailed Jon Ossoff out of the news conference to ask him for his reaction on the special counsel report.

"No charges recommended," the senator noted, sipping from a cup of coffee.

"Unusual commentary straying from what one would typically expect in a focused and substantive report."

The Georgia senator is the youngest member on this side of the Capitol, but he says Robert Hur's observations do not bother him and are "ultimately just noise".

"I've spent a substantial amount of time with the president in recent months," he told me.

"I've found him to be sharp, focused, impressive, formidable and effective."

Sam Cabral
Reporting from Capitol Hill

Last night, the White House issued a national security memorandum requiring that US security assistance is used in line with international humanitarian law.

It is in part a rebuke of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's military campaign in Gaza - but it was completely overshadowed by the release of Special Counsel Robert Hur's report on the president's mishandling of classified documents.

The group of senators whose congressional amendment helped create the memorandum just held a news conference a short while ago to discuss the White House's move.

But when questioning began, most reporters in the room wanted to ask about Joe Biden instead.

Though they declined to discuss it in detail, Senator Chris Van Hollen - speaking on the group's behalf - said Democrats remain "absolutely confident" in the president.

Van Hollen called Biden "thoughtful" and "experienced".

"We want to stick with somebody who understands what this country needs," he said.

Christine Ro
Features correspondent

The US has become a hotspot for debates about whether people in the political sphere can ever be too old to lead.

The top contenders for the 2024 US presidential election are Joe Biden – who turned 81 in 2023 – is more than twice as old as the median American, external; and 77-year-old Donald Trump, who is a more than a decade beyond, external the "Normal Retirement Age" – the age at which Americans can receive their full retirement benefits.

In the US Senate, Republian Chuck Grassley is the oldest sitting senator at the age of 90, followed by Senator Bernie Sanders at 82.

Apart from discussions of the fact that gerontocracies – societies governed by older people – are typically not representative, external of their population, there are other concerns.

One key focus is mental fitness. Neuroscience and psychology suggest that cognitive performance varies widely as people grow older, making it tricky to determine whether someone can be too old to lead.

If you are interested in finding out how ageing affects the brain, check out this in-depth feature.

With the special counsel report thrusting Biden's age into the political spotlight, many Republicans have gone on the attack.

House Speaker Mike Johnson, Majority Leader Steve Scalise, Majority Whip Tom Emmer and House Republican Conference Chairwoman Elise Stefanik issued a joint statement:

Marjorie Taylor Greene told Fox News: "I think we're in a national security crisis. If... Joe Biden is not fit to serve trial, then he is not fit to serve as president of the United States.”

South Carolina Congressman Ralph Norman, who is backing Nikki Haley for president this year, said: "Not exactly a glowing description of the PRESIDENT of the United States."

Alabama Congressman Barry Moore chimed in: "Our enemies are laughing with delight."

New York congressman Dan Goldman has been doing the morning television rounds today, speaking with CNN and MSNBC.

The democrat is defending Joe Biden, telling the Morning Joe programme he has had personal interactions with the president and he had no concerns about his age.

"I think President Biden is incredibly experienced, knowledgeable, wise. And I don't have concerns about his age," he said.

Bernd Debusmann Jr
US reporter

Mexico and Egypt may be separated by thousands of miles, and have vastly different cultures and languages.

But this morning, netizens of both countries are uniting to find a brief moment of levity in Joe Biden’s gaffe, in which he referred to Egyptian leader Abdel Fattah Al-Sisi as the “president of Mexico”.

On X, the platform formerly known as Twitter, some Mexicans have been sharing images of the Mexican flag - but with its characteristic eagle replaced by the eagle from Egypt’s flag.

Others shared images of Mayan temples improbably placed in the sand dunes near the pyramids of Giza, of a sombrero-wearing taco vendor standing nearby, or of Al-Sisi wearing a traditional Mexican poncho and strumming on a guitar.

“We’ve both got pyramids,” one X user wrote.

“Anyone can get confused. I’m 65 and almost daily I get my car confused with others of the same colour.”

In Egypt, Egyptians have long referred to Al-Sisi as “El Meksiki” - the Mexican - to avoid government censors.

"You can't criticise the president freely so Egyptians started calling him 'El Meksiki' ('the Mexican' in Arabic) because it sounds like 'al-Sisi' so they can avoid censorship and criticise him freely," one user explained on X.