As questions continue to be raised about Biden’s age and mental capacity ahead of the November presidential election, the president has shown signs of cognitive decline in private meetings with lawmakers.
At 81, Biden is the oldest person to hold the presidency and has faced skepticism from voters and Republicans about his ability to do the job. In a Wall Street Journal interview with 45 lawmakers and administration officials about the president’s mental health, many Republicans, and even some Democrats, said the president’s age was apparent in the private meetings.
Most of the people interviewed by the outlet were Republicans who were critical of Biden’s performance, but some Democrats said the president’s age was showing in some of his interactions. Those interviewed were either in the Biden meetings or were briefed on them at the time, and included administration officials and other Democrats who didn’t express concerns about the president’s handling of the meetings.
When he met with congressional leaders in January to negotiate a deal for additional funding for Ukraine, Biden spoke in a low voice at times, making it hard for some to hear, five people familiar with the meeting told The Wall Street Journal. The president read from notes to make key points and had long periods of silence and eyes closed, leading some participants to suspect he was not listening.
Biden says world leaders fear Trump will be re-elected: ‘We can’t let Trump win’
At 81, President Biden is the oldest person to hold the presidency. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci)
During a one-on-one meeting with House Speaker Mike Johnson in February, Biden said the administration’s recent policy changes that put some large energy projects at risk were just an investigation, according to six people who then spoke to Johnson about what he remembered from the conversation. Johnson was concerned the president was forgetting the details of his own policies.
As Mr. Biden was negotiating with House Republicans about raising the debt ceiling last year, then-House Speaker Kevin McCarthy and two other people familiar with the negotiations said his demeanor and grasp of detail seemed to vary from day to day. On some days he appeared clear-sighted, interacting freely and naturally with Republicans, on other days he seemed to mumble and rely on notes.
“I used to see him a lot when he was vice president. I’d go to his house. He’s just not the same person anymore,” McCarthy said.
Biden has had a reputation in Washington as a master legislative negotiator, with intimate knowledge of the issues and insight into the motivations and needs of the other side and someone who performs well under pressure. But now, especially over the past year since Republicans took control of the House of Representatives, he is seen as an older president whose cognitive abilities are occasionally declining.
But White House officials have denied many of the accounts from people who have met with the president or been briefed on the calls, saying such criticism is driven by partisan politics.
“Republicans in Congress, foreign leaders and bipartisan national security experts have made clear in their own words that President Biden is a wise and capable leader with a strong legislative track record,” White House spokesman Andrew Bates said. “Now in 2024, House Republicans are making this false claim as a political tactic that is completely contradictory to previous statements they and their colleagues have made.”
Biden made a compelling case for providing aid during a January meeting about Ukraine, according to administration officials and some participants. Notes are common in such meetings. Bates also denied allegations that Biden made a gaffe during a February meeting with Johnson about energy policy.
White House officials argued that criticism of Biden’s intellectual acuity was driven by partisan politics. (Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images)
Administration aides familiar with last year’s debt ceiling increase negotiations said Biden was effective but not directly involved, issuing detailed instructions behind the scenes. Mr. McCarthy privately told administration officials at the time he was impressed with Mr. Biden’s performance, and in his public comments he suggested the president had been wise, the aides said.
Aides said the fact that both the Ukraine aid and the debt ceiling increase passed without major concessions to Republicans represented a success for Trump.
Former President Trump, Biden’s biggest threat in the presidential election, is 77 years old and has faced criticism for his mental acuity, with signs of declining memory, inaccurate factual statements and gaffes in public speech, leading both Democrats and Republicans to attack his political opponents for their mental acuity.
Some who attended Biden’s meetings blamed his gaffes on a speech impediment and redundant speech. Those concerned about the president said the behavior they observed suggested instability, rather than the confused leader some political opponents suggest. The White House said the president’s doctors have deemed him fit to carry out his duties and that his recent annual physical showed he did not need cognitive testing.
Administration officials pointed to extended hours in the Situation Room in April during and after Iran’s missile attacks on Israel and late-night White House calls with lawmakers as other examples of the president’s alertness and engagement.
Voters’ concerns about Biden and Trump’s intellectual abilities are shaped in large part by their speeches and other public comments.
Border crossings surge as election draws closer, prompting President Biden to order most illegal immigration stopped
Former President Trump has also faced criticism about his intellectual capacity. (Donald Trump/Truth Social)
At a campaign event in Detroit last month, Biden suggested he was vice president during the coronavirus pandemic, which began under the Trump administration. The next day, at a Rose Garden event celebrating Jewish American Heritage Month, Biden initially said one of the U.S. hostages being held in Gaza had been a guest at a White House event, but then corrected himself.
In January, Biden mixed up two Hispanic Cabinet members, Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas and Health and Human Services Secretary Xavier Becerra.
At a fundraiser in New York in February, he recalled speaking with German Chancellor Helmut Kohl at the 2021 Group of Seven summit, but Kohl died in 2017. At another fundraiser that month, he said he spoke with former French President François Mitterrand, who died in 1996, at the 2021 G7 summit.
Meanwhile, in a January speech, Trump confused then-presidential rival Republican Nikki Haley with California Democratic Rep. and former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi. At a Virginia rally in March, he confused Biden with former President Barack Obama while commenting on Russian President Vladimir Putin’s views of U.S. leadership. During his hush money criminal trial in New York last month, he closed his eyes for long periods of time.
Following the Jan. 6, 2021, riot at the Capitol, concerns about President Trump’s mental state have led some Cabinet members to debate whether to increase oversight of his powers, with at least one considering invoking the 25th Amendment to the Constitution to remove him from his duties.
A spokesman for Trump told The Wall Street Journal that he is “very intelligent.”
Voters’ concerns about Biden and Trump’s intellectual abilities are shaped in large part by their speeches and other public comments. (AP Photo/Andrew Harnick)
Click here to get the FOX News app
Concerns about the president’s mental health were heightened earlier this year when special counsel Robert K. Harr, who interviewed Biden for about five hours over two days in October as part of his investigation into his handling of classified documents, wrote in his report that Biden’s memory was “severely limited.” Biden said of Harr’s report that “he knows what he’s doing.”
Biden’s reluctance to give interviews to the media has limited opportunities for Americans to observe unscripted moments. By the end of April, Biden had given fewer interviews and press conferences than any recent president, according to data collected by Towson University professor emeritus Martha Joynt Kumar. His last town-hall-style meeting with independent news organizations was in October 2021.
Visitor records show that Biden has had fewer small meetings with lawmakers as his term has progressed: In his first year in office, despite pandemic restrictions, he held more than 30 meetings with fewer than 20 lawmakers in the West Wing of the White House. That number fell to about 20 in his second year and about 10 in his third year.
The Wall Street Journal contributed to this report.
