President Biden’s biographer revealed Tuesday that one of the president’s “closest confidants” believes the president should undergo a “thorough neurological examination” and make the results public.
Chris Whipple, author of the 2023 biography “The Greatest Fight of My Life: Inside Joe Biden’s White House,” spoke to CNN’s Abby Phillips on Monday night about a surprising plan proposed by one of Biden’s friends to combat growing concerns about the president’s cognitive decline.
“One of the president’s closest friends believes Joe Biden should go to Walter Reed, get a thorough neurological exam, make the results public and let the rest take its course,” Whipple said.
“Now I don’t think that friend would have said this out loud to Joe Biden, because it’s a hard thing to say to him, even to a close friend. But I don’t think he’d go that far without a major push,” the biographer added.
Whipple stressed that friends and aides to Biden believe the president is “cognitively fine” but are concerned by his poor performance in the debate with Donald Trump and the fallout from it.
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Since the debate two weeks ago, leading Democrats have been calling for Biden to resign amid concerns that his age, 81, could harm Democrats in the 2024 election.
Whipple argued those concerns are unfounded, but noted the White House is only perpetuating them by isolating Biden and mapping out every single one of his moves.
The biographer also revealed that he had only communicated with the president through written questions, and summed up Biden’s White House as “the most scripted White House in modern history.”
On Saturday, a Philadelphia radio host revealed that the Biden campaign had posed the question to her before the 80-year-old commander in chief appeared on her show.
Andrea Lawful Sanders, host of WURD’s “The Source,” said she received a list of eight questions directly from the Biden campaign ahead of her interview with the embattled Biden last Wednesday.
“The question was sent to me for approval and I approved it,” Lawful Sanders told CNN’s “First of All” host Victor Blackwell.
Biden later delivered carefully teleprompted remarks during his opening address at NATO’s annual summit on Tuesday.
The aging president’s age and cognitive ability have become focal points in his reelection bid, with many calling for him to step down.
The Biden campaign has engaged in full damage control since the June 27 debate, scheduling several interviews with major media outlets to counter negative coverage, but even some of the interviewers remain unconvinced.
ABC News host George Stephanopoulos, who recently interviewed Biden about the debate fiasco, acknowledged Tuesday that he doesn’t believe the president can serve a second term.
“I don’t think he can serve another four years,” the Good Morning America co-host told passersby in a video. TMZ records.
Stephanopoulos later said he regretted his candid response.
Despite the backlash, Biden has repeatedly said he has no plans to drop out of the presidential race and has touted himself as the Democrats’ best hope of defeating Trump in November.
