Axelrod criticizes Biden for going after CNN reporter

Former White House aide and CNN contributor David Axelrod on Friday criticized President Biden for earlier harsh remarks he made to a reporter for the network who asked him about concerns about his memory and age.

“Donald Trump is a gaffe machine himself, but he’s energetic, so these questions aren’t that serious for him,” Axelrod said Friday.

“What should have been more concerning was Biden’s reaction,” Axelrod said of Biden. [CNN reporter] M.J. [Lee] When she asked the question, which was completely legitimate and what are you going to do about the fact that so many people are asking this question, he snapped at her. ”

In a contentious exchange with reporters Thursday night, Biden forcefully pushed back on claims made by the special counsel’s report regarding his recollection of key elements of his life and political career.

Mr Biden said his memory was “fine” and insisted he was “the best person in this country to be president of the United States” and was determined to “finish the job” he started.

He dismissed Mr Lee’s question about polls showing concerns about his age, saying it was a matter of “opinion”.

“That’s the opinion of a lot of Americans who only see you in front of the cameras,” Axelrod said of Biden. “They don’t see you in the situation room. In these closed-door meetings, they don’t see you. And they draw conclusions from what they see.”

Biden’s re-election campaign “needs to build its strategy around that,” Axelrod said, adding that “putting him in front of a corps of hungry reporters yelling at him doesn’t necessarily mean… “I don’t know if that’s the best way for him to communicate.”

“They need to think about how and when to use him,” Axelrod said. “But it’s a big problem.”