President Joe Biden showed signs of poor cognitive abilities in private meetings with members of Congress as his age and mental acuity continue to be questioned ahead of November’s presidential election.
At 81, Biden is the oldest person to serve as president and his ability to do the job is viewed with skepticism by voters and Republican lawmakers. According to the Wall Street Journal, many Republicans and even some Democrats say the president exposed his age in private meetings.
Most of the critics of Biden’s performance interviewed by the outlet were Republicans, although some Democrats said the president showed his age in several exchanges. Those interviewed, including administration officials and other Democrats, who attended or were briefed on the meeting with Biden, did not express concerns about how the president handled the meeting.
Five people familiar with the matter told the Wall Street Journal that when he met with congressional leaders in January to negotiate a deal to provide additional funding to Ukraine, Biden at times spoke so softly that some had difficulty hearing him. The president read from notes to make obvious points, pausing for long periods of time and even closing his eyes for so long that some in the meeting wondered if he had shut up.
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President Biden, 81, is the oldest person ever to serve as president. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci)
When Biden met one-on-one with House Speaker Mike Johnson in February, the president said a recent policy change by his administration that jeopardized some large energy projects was just A study. Johnson worried that the president was forgetting the details of his own policies.
Last year, as Biden negotiated with House Republicans to raise the debt ceiling, his demeanor and grasp of details seemed to change day after day, said then-House Speaker Kevin McCarthy and two other people familiar with the negotiations. Changes are happening. One day he appeared sharp in loose and spontaneous exchanges with Republicans, and other days he was vague and seemed to rely on notes.
“I used to meet him when he was vice president. I would go to his house. He’s not the same person anymore,” McCarthy said.
Biden, who previously had a reputation in Washington as a master negotiator of legislative deals with a detailed understanding of issues, a deep understanding of the other side’s motivations and needs, and a reputation for performing well under pressure, is now seen as particularly Last year after Republicans took control of the G.O.P.
White House officials, however, have dismissed many of the claims from people who have met with the president or been briefed on meetings and said such criticism is motivated by partisan politics.
White House spokesman Andrew Bates said: “Congressional Republicans, foreign leaders and nonpartisan national security experts have all said in their own words that President Biden is a savvy and effective leader with profound legislative achievements. “Now, in 2024, House Republicans are using false claims as a political tactic that are diametrically opposed to their own and their colleagues’ previous statements. “
During Biden’s January meeting on Ukraine, the president made a compelling case for aid, according to administration officials and some attendees, who said the use of notes was common practice in those meetings. Bates also dismissed suggestions that Biden misspoke on energy policy during a meeting with Johnson in February.
White House officials claim criticism of Biden’s mental acuity is motivated by partisan politics. (Anna Chanmemaker/Getty Images)
Administration aides familiar with last year’s debt ceiling negotiations recalled that Biden was effective in not being directly involved and providing detailed instructions behind the scenes. Aides said McCarthy privately told administration officials at the time that he was impressed with Biden’s performance, and the former speaker said in public speeches that the president appeared shrill.
Aides said he showed success by providing money to Ukraine and raising the debt ceiling without making major concessions to Republicans.
Former President Trump is Biden’s biggest threat in the presidential election, and the 77-year-old has also been criticized for his mental acuity, as he has shown signs of poor memory, provided inaccurate facts and made lapses in public remarks. Neither Democrats nor Republicans understand his point of view.
Some who attended Biden’s conference attributed his missteps to his speech impediment and tendency to be verbose. Those who have expressed concerns about the president say the behavior they observe points to an unbalanced president, rather than a confused leader as some of his political opponents have portrayed him to be. The White House said the president’s doctors deemed him fit to serve and his most recent annual physical showed no cognitive testing was needed.
Administration members offered several other examples they said showed the president’s acumen and commitment, including extended stays in the situation room during and after Iran’s missile attack on Israel in April and late-night phone calls with White House lawmakers.
Voter concerns about the mental acuity of Biden and Trump hinge largely on their speeches and other public appearances.
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Former President Trump was also criticized for his mental acuity. (Donald Trump/Truth Society)
At a campaign event in Detroit last month, Biden said he was serving as vice president during the COVID-19 pandemic that began during the Trump administration. The next day, at a Rose Garden event celebrating Jewish American Heritage Month, Biden initially said an American hostage held in Gaza was a guest at the White House event before correcting himself.
In January, Biden lumped together two Hispanic cabinet secretaries, Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas and Health and Human Services Secretary Xavier Becerra.
At a fundraiser in New York in February, he recalled speaking to German Chancellor Helmut Kohl at the 2021 G7 meeting, even though Kohl died in 2017. At a fundraiser, he said he had spoken with former French President Francois Mitterrand, who died in 1996, during the 2021 G7 summit.
Meanwhile, Trump conflated then-Republican presidential opponent Nikki Haley with former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., in a speech in January. At a rally in Virginia in March, Trump conflated Biden with former President Obama when commenting on Russian President Vladimir Putin’s views on U.S. leadership. During his hush-money criminal trial in New York last month, he closed his eyes for long periods of time.
Concerns about Trump’s mental state following the Jan. 6, 2021, riot at the Capitol led some of his Cabinet officials to discuss whether there should be greater checks on his powers, with at least one considering invoking the 25th Amendment to remove him Removal from office.
Trump’s spokesperson told the Wall Street Journal that he was “very sharp.”
Voter concerns about the mental acuity of Biden and Trump hinge largely on their speeches and other public appearances. (AP Photo/Andrew Harnick)
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Special counsel Robert K. Hur, who interviewed the president for about five hours over two days earlier this year as part of his investigation into his handling of classified documents, wrote that Biden’s memory ‘Severely Constrained’ Concerns about the president’s mental state were heightened earlier this year. “I know exactly what I’m doing,” Biden said of Hull’s report.
Americans have limited opportunities to observe Biden in unscripted moments because he is reluctant to speak to the media. By the end of April, he had given fewer interviews and news conferences than any of his predecessors, according to data collected by Towson University professor emeritus Martha Jonte Kumar. His last town hall-style meeting with independent news media was in October 2021.
As his term went on, Biden held fewer small meetings with lawmakers, according to visitor logs. In his first year in office, despite pandemic restrictions, he held more than three dozen meetings in the West Wing attended by fewer than 20 lawmakers. The number dropped to about two dozen in the second year and about a dozen in the third.
The Wall Street Journal contributed to this report.
