President Biden has shown signs of poor cognitive performance in private meetings with congressional lawmakers, as his age and mental acuity continue to be questioned ahead of November's presidential election.
Biden, 81, is the oldest person to serve as president and has faced skepticism from Republican voters and lawmakers about his ability to do his job. Many Republicans and even some Democrats said the president showed his age in private meetings, according to The Wall Street Journal, which spoke to 45 lawmakers and administration officials about the president's mental performance.
Most of the people interviewed by the outlet who criticized Biden's performance were Republicans, although some Democrats said the president showed his age in several exchanges. These interviewees participated in meetings with Biden or were briefed on them at the same time, including administration officials and other Democrats who did not express concerns about how the president handled the meetings.
When he met with congressional leaders in January to negotiate a deal to send additional funds to Ukraine, Biden at times spoke so softly that some people had trouble hearing him, five people familiar with the meeting told The Wall Street Journal. The president read from notes to highlight obvious points, paused for long periods and even closed his eyes for so long that some people at the meeting wondered if he had zoned out.
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President Biden, at 81, is the oldest person to serve as president. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci)
In February, when Biden met in person with House Speaker Mike Johnson, the president said a recent policy change by his administration that jeopardizes some big energy projects was just a study, according to six people. that they were informed at that time what Johnson remembered of the meeting. Johnson worried that the president had forgotten the details of his own policy.
Last year, when Biden was negotiating with House Republicans to raise the debt ceiling, his demeanor and mastery of the details seemed to change overnight, said then-House Speaker Kevin McCarthy, and two other people familiar with the conversations. One day he seemed sharp with loose, spontaneous exchanges with Republicans, and other days he murmured and seemed to rely on notes.
“I used to meet with him when he was vice president. I would go to his house. He's not the same person,” McCarthy said.
Biden, who previously had a reputation in Washington for being a master negotiator of legislative agreements, for possessing a detailed knowledge of the issues and the motivations and needs of the other side, and for excelling under pressure, is now perceived, particularly in the last year after the Republicans took control of the House, like an elderly president with sometimes poor cognitive ability.
White House officials, however, dismissed many of the accounts from people who met with the president or were briefed on those meetings, saying such criticism was motivated by partisan politics.
“Congressional Republicans, foreign leaders and nonpartisan national security experts have made clear in their own words that President Biden is a smart and effective leader who has a deep record of legislative accomplishments,” the House spokesman said. Blanca, Andrew Bates. “Now, in 2024, House Republicans are making false claims as a political tactic that flatly contradict previous statements made by themselves and their colleagues.”
At Biden's meeting on Ukraine in January, the president made a compelling case for providing aid, according to administration officials and some participants, who said it is common practice to use notes in these meetings. Bates also denied claims that Biden had been wrong during his February meeting with Johnson on energy policy.
White House officials claimed that criticism of Biden's mental acuity was motivated by partisan politics. (Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images)
Administration aides familiar with last year's debt ceiling negotiations recalled that Biden was effective, was not directly involved and had provided detailed instructions behind the scenes. Aides said McCarthy privately told administration officials at the time that he was impressed with Biden's performance and that the former president suggested in public comments that the president seemed smart.
Aides said the approval of both Ukraine funding and a debt ceiling increase without major concessions to Republicans shows it was successful.
Former President Trump, the biggest threat to Biden in the presidential election, at 77 years old, has also faced criticism for his mental acuity, as he has shown signs of poor memory, giving inaccurate data and making errors in public statements, which which has allowed both Democrats and Republicans to attack their political enemy for his mental acuity.
Some who attended meetings with Biden blamed his mistakes on his speech impediment and tendency to be verbose. People who expressed concern about the president said the behavior they observed suggested inequality, rather than a confused leader as some of his political opponents have described. The White House said the president's doctors found him fit to serve and that his recent annual physical exam showed no need for a cognitive test.
Administration members provided several examples of other instances that they say showed the president was smart and committed, including long hours in the Situation Room in April during and after Iran's missile attack on Israel, and long nights speaking on the phone with White House lawmakers. .
Voters' concerns about the mental acuity of Biden and Trump are largely determined by their speeches and other public appearances.
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Former President Trump has also faced criticism for his mental acuity. (Donald Trump/Social Truth)
During a campaign event in Detroit last month, Biden suggested he was vice president during the COVID-19 pandemic, which began during the Trump administration. The next day, during a Rose Garden event celebrating American Jewish Heritage month, Biden initially said that one of the American hostages held in Gaza was a guest at the White House event before correcting himself.
In January, Biden confused two of his Hispanic Cabinet secretaries, Department of Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas and Health and Human Services Secretary Xavier Becerra.
At a February fundraiser in New York, he recalled speaking with German Chancellor Helmut Kohl at the 2021 Group of Seven meeting, even though Kohl died in 2017. During a different fundraiser that month, he said who during the 2021 G-7 summit had spoken with former French president François Mitterrand, who died in 1996.
Meanwhile, Trump confused then-Republican presidential opponent Nikki Haley with former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, a Democratic congresswoman from California, during a speech in January. During a rally in Virginia in March, Trump confused Biden with former President Obama when commenting on Russian President Vladimir Putin's view of American leadership. At his hush money criminal trial in New York last month, he closed his eyes for long periods of time.
Following the January 6, 2021, riot at the Capitol, concerns about Trump's mental state led some of his Cabinet officials to discuss whether there should be greater checks on his power, and at least one considered invoking the 25th Amendment. to remove him from office. .
A spokeswoman for Trump told the Wall Street Journal that he is “sharp as a tack.”
Voters' concerns about the mental acuity of Biden and Trump are largely determined by their speeches and other public appearances. (AP Photo/Andrew Harnik)
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Concerns about the president's mental state were amplified earlier this year when special counsel Robert K. Hur, who interviewed him for about five hours over two days last October during an investigation into his handling of classified documents, wrote that the Biden's memory had been “significantly limited.” Biden referred to Hur's report and said, “I know what the hell I'm doing.”
Americans have had limited opportunities to observe Biden in spontaneous moments as he has shown a reluctance to give media interviews. As of late April, she had given fewer interviews and press conferences than any of her recent predecessors, according to data compiled by Martha Joynt Kumar, a professor emeritus at Towson University. Her last town hall meeting with an independent media outlet was in October 2021.
Biden has had fewer small meetings with lawmakers throughout his term, according to visitor records. During his first year in office, he held more than three dozen meetings of fewer than 20 lawmakers in the West Wing, even with pandemic restrictions. The number dwindled to about two dozen in his second year and about a dozen in his third year.
The Wall Street Journal contributed to this report.
