WASHINGTON — President Biden’s aides tried to blame “MAGA Republicans” Wednesday for a stunning report that described the 81-year-old as disengaged and confused in meetings — despite similar conduct being noted privately by White House staff and exhibited publicly by the commander in chief.
The Wall Street Journal led its blistering report about the oldest-ever US president’s mental fitness with accounts of three recent engagements with members of Congress in which Biden mumbled inaudibly, misstated administration policy or closed his eyes for long intervals.
“I’ll just say that it says a lot that the only people willing to make these false claims are Trump’s MAGA Republicans in Congress,” Biden re-election campaign manager Julie Chavez Rodriguez told a CNN reporter on a press call Wednesday.
White House communications director Ben LaBolt feverishly tweeted and retweeted criticism of the story.
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“What a surprise — Republicans employing their election year messaging strategy that contradicts their own prior words about [Biden],” tweeted LaBolt in one post, referring to former House Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) once describing Biden as a sharp negotiator.
The Journal reported that Democratic members of Congress contacted for the story were instructed by the White House to call the paper back with additional talking points attesting to Biden’s strength, with Rep. Gregory Meeks, the chairman of the Queens Democratic Party, saying on the record: “They just, you know, said that I should give you a call back.”
Other congressional Democrats lined up to slam the story, with Sen. Jack Reed (D-RI) tweeting: “Anonymous Republican sources didn’t raise these issues in real time, day after, or week after. Trying to do so now reeks of [a] political hit job.”
“Surprise, surprise — everyone attacking @POTUS is a Republican with an agenda,” agreed Sen. Patty Murray (D-Wash.).
Former Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) tweeted: “Many of us spent time with @WSJ to share on the record our first-hand experiences with @POTUS, where we see his wisdom, experience and strategic thinking. Instead, the Journal ignored testimony by Democrats, focused on attacks by Republicans and printed a hit piece.”
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Prominent reporters argued that Biden’s staff did him no favors by acting as if the report was unfounded or politically motivated.
“The problem with this of course,” tweeted Olivia Nuzzi, New York magazine’s Washington correspondent, “is that the Joe Biden the world observes in his public appearances resembles more closely the Joe Biden described by the WSJ than by the Democrats who claim he is secretly sharp as a tack.”
The White House’s effort to whip up a Democratic defense of Biden “reveals a WH determined to portray a story in plain view — the prez has good and bad days befitting his age — as a partisan hit by Hill Repubs. Harder to make that case if Hill Dems are making same pts,” tweeted Jonathan Martin of Politico.
Biden’s staffers have long confided that the president, who would be 86 years old if he completes a full second term in January 2029, has at points lost his focus in private conversations — which also happens in public.
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High-profile instances of Biden being confused included a trio of fundraiser remarks this past February in which he spoke as if the French president and German chancellor were still Francois Mitterrand, who left office in 1995, and Helmut Kohl, who left office in 1998, respectively.
The same month, he referred toEgyptianPresident Abdel Fattah el-Sisias the “president of Mexico” during a hastily arranged press conference to deny special counsel Robert Hur’s finding that no jury would convict him of mishandling classified documents on the grounds of perceived senility.
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Hur wrote that he had found evidence that Biden “willfully” mishandled the nation’s secrets — a crime — but that he should not face criminal charges because “at trial, Mr. 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.”
Biden declared executive privilege this month over the tapes of his interviews with Hur on Oct. 8-9 of last year, with the White House specifically expressing concern they would be used for Republican attack ads ahead of Biden’s Nov. 5 rematch against former President Donald Trump, 77.
Gaffes that elicit broad concern about Biden’s mental fitness span his presidency — notably his September 2022 question “where’sJackie?” as he searched for the lateJackieWalorski (R-Ind.) at an event — despite publicly mourning Walorski’s death one month prior and even calling her family to personally express his condolences.
Concern about Biden’s mental fitness is overwhelming in polling.
ANew York Times/Siena Collegepollreleased in March found73% of registered votersbelieveBidenis “toooldto be an effective president” — versus 42% who said so of Trump.
