House Republicans are questioning whether Vice President Kamala Harris noticed signs of Biden’s cognitive decline before he raised similar concerns to the public more broadly during last month’s presidential debate.
“It is inconceivable that the president’s advisers were unaware of his declining cognitive abilities,” House Foreign Affairs Committee Chairman Michael McCaul (R-Texas) told Fox News Digital when asked about Harris.
McCaul, who has met with Biden twice since he took office in January 2021, said that during their second meeting earlier this year, the president “didn’t seem to understand things very well.”
“It was obvious to the people in the meeting. Something must have happened. Maybe he just had a bad day,” McCaul said.
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Vice President Kamala Harris speaks in the Rose Garden at the White House as President Biden looks on, July 26, 2021, in Washington, DC. (Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images)
Other Republicans were more scathing in their criticism of Harris, pointing to reports that she and Biden had been together in small gatherings, including one-on-one lunches.
“If you look at the video from six months ago, three months ago, when she was coming out to these crowds and saying, ‘The president is fine, he’s doing great,’ you can see they were all complicit in this,” said Sen. Scott Fitzgerald, a Republican from Wisconsin. “And so we now have this really bizarre situation where we don’t know if the president can do his job.”
Harris announced she was running on Sunday after Biden, 81, dropped out of the presidential race.
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House Foreign Affairs Chairman Michael McCaul is among the lawmakers questioning what Biden’s aides know about his cognitive health. (Getty Images)
Republican critics of the administration have accused Democrats of staging a “coup” against Biden because all polls show him on track to lose to former President Trump, but left-leaning lawmakers deny the allegations and say anyone is free to challenge Harris.
Republican attacks also include questioning whether Harris saw Biden behaving in private in the same way he did onstage during a debate with Trump in June, when he spoke raspy, incoherent and at times appeared confused.
“It’s clear that she watched his decline and did nothing to expose it or do anything about it,” said Rep. Ben Klein, R-Va. “Instead, what we’re seeing is her engaging in one of the biggest cover-ups in the history of our country.”
“She’s the vice president. She’s been there the whole time that most of the world knew the president couldn’t do his job,” Rep. Tom Tiffany, a Republican from Wisconsin, told Fox News Digital.
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Doubts about Biden’s eligibility to be a candidate were raised by his performance at the CNN presidential debate. (Andrew Harnick/Getty Images)
“How can you spend time with him and not know he is in a debilitating condition?” asked Rep. Barry Moore, a Republican from Alabama.
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“She was on Trump’s side, which is a very loyal thing to do,” said Rep. Dan Meuser (R-Pennsylvania). “But where is loyalty to the American people and lying? Where is the line?”
Biden suspended his campaign due to growing pressure from Democratic lawmakers to step down.
Fox News Digital has reached out to Harris’ campaign for comment.
