Recently, a shocking report has raised concerns about Joe Biden’s cognitive decline, as sources say 45 Republican and Democratic lawmakers and staffers have witnessed concerning behavior during meetings. According to the Wall Street Journal [1], some described the President as speaking so softly participants struggled to hear him, while others claim that his demeanor varied by the day, and he often relied on notes and deferred to aides.
During negotiations over congressional funding for Ukraine aid in January, one participant claimed that Biden’s behavior made them uncomfortable. They recalled that Biden only started the meeting after ten minutes and used note cards to make obvious solutions to problems that everyone had already agreed on. Similarly, during tense negotiations over raising the debt ceiling last May, former House Speaker Kevin McCarthy recalled how Biden would “ramble” and mumble during meetings and wasn’t the same person he used to meet with when he was Vice President. McCarthy said Biden couldn’t negotiate another way and always had note cards to aid him.
According to a senior GOP aide who spoke to The New York Post [2], the concerning claims in the report are the reason the Justice Department has declined to make public the recordings of Biden’s interview with former special counsel Robert Hur [3] in the investigation into classified documents.
“Behind closed doors? Isn’t it obvious in public? Don’t you think that’s why they want to hide the Hur transcript?”
Biden’s alleged confusion about policy and inability to make the final call on key points have also been criticized. In a February follow-up meeting, House Speaker Mike Johnson expressed his concern that the regime’s liquid natural gas export policy benefited Russia, which Biden was unaware of, saying it was “only a study.” Similarly, GOP lawmakers tasked by McCarthy to hammer out the details of the debt ceiling plan described frustratingly “general” conversations with Biden.
According to a White House official, the accounts of congressional lawmakers and staffers don’t depict Biden in cognitive decline. They claim that Biden is a savvy and effective leader, and this is just a political tactic by House Republicans ahead of the 2024 election. At 81 years old, Joe Biden would be the oldest US President in history and could end up being 86 by the end of his second term if re-elected.