Former CNN top journalist Offered a “confession” and “apology” He acknowledged Thursday that he “should have worked harder” to cover for President Joe Biden's mental decline.
Chris Cillizza, a former Washington Post political reporter who later joined CNN as editor-in-chief and left the network in 2022, posted a video on his YouTube page Thursday, despite being pursued by Republicans. He admitted that he failed to adequately report the signs of Biden's downfall. Let him do it.
“As a reporter, I have a confession to make,” Silitza said in Thursday's video clip.
“We should have done more to get more information about Joe Biden's physical and mental health and signs of decline sooner.”
Schritza said Republicans “emailed me regularly” during his time at CNN, asking why he hadn't addressed the 82-year-old president's obvious signs of decline.
Schritza said the “evidence” that Biden is following despite numerous gaffes, physical stumbles and the president appearing to lose his train of thought during public speeches. He recalled how he used to “ignore them” because he wasn't looking.
bomb report Thursday Wall Street Journal He detailed how Biden's aides carefully staged his presidency to hide the extent of his age-related decline.
The newspaper said a meeting between Biden and top national security officials, scheduled for as early as spring 2021, ended because the president said “we have good days, we have bad days, and today was a bad day.” The event could be rescheduled or canceled entirely. ”
Lawmakers told the Journal that their contact with the president was limited and that he was largely insulated from his fiercely loyal staff.
The former CNN pundit, who read excerpts of the Journal's report on video, said he accepted the White House's position that Biden was fine and was deterred from pursuing the issue out of guilt for “age-shaming” the president. said. .
“The White House and those around Joe Biden believe that it is offensive to suggest anything, including asking questions about whether he is experiencing physical or mental decline or both,” Sillizza said Thursday. “I was adamant that it was,” he said.
“'How can you do that? That's age-shaming.' And I think that affected me on some level,” he admitted.
“I used to ask questions from time to time, but to be honest, I didn't really ask questions,” Silitza said.
“Now, since I left CNN and Biden's age became a little clearer, I've written pretty regularly about how I wasn't sure if this guy was serious, and I've written pretty frequently about how I wasn't sure if this guy was serious. I think he was talking about it,” the former pundit added.
“And obviously, after the June 27 debate, everyone was writing and talking about it, including me.”
The debate made it clear to the public that Biden's momentum had waned, and Democratic establishment figures, including former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, tried to remove him from the presidential race.
Biden then endorsed Vice President Kamala Harris, who lost to Donald Trump in the Nov. 5 election.
“Maybe we should have put more effort into the Biden era. In retrospect, those close to him know that at best he had some good days and some bad days. Because it's clear that he did,” Shilitza admitted.
“The June 27 debate was obviously a bad day. But if that bad day was that bad, if it was as bad as his performance on that debate stage, were mostly asked about physical and mental decline. I think the fact that he served as president without having to do anything about it is a little worrying and pleading, for example, when did people close to him know, what did they know, and why did they share it? “The question is, did it happen?” Shilitza said.
Meghan McCain, daughter of the late Sen. John McCain, said: “When he ran for office in 2008 (he was 71, mind you), there was no one as big and persistent as Chris about her father's age.'' “There was no one to tell the truth,” he said, criticizing Shilitza. ”[whenhewas71mindyou)thanChris”[whenhewas71mindyou)thanChris”
“I ignored Biden because he's a hacker,” McCain wrote to X.
