Some of those closest to President Joe Biden say he has experienced "marked incidents of cognitive decline and physical infirmity" over the past six months, according to veteran political journalist Carl Bernstein, who was speaking to CNN on Monday.
The Context
Biden struggled during a debate against Donald Trump on June 27, appearing to lose his chain of thought at several points, raising fresh concerns about the 81-year-old's health and mental aptitude. As a result his odds of being reelected in November slumped from 13/8 (38.1 percent) to 7/2 (22.2 percent) according to one leading bookmaker.
Biden's debate performance triggered a "very aggressive panic" within the Democratic Party according to CNN's chief national correspondent John King and sparked intense speculation over whether he could be removed as its presumptive presidential nominee.
What We Know
During his CNN appearance Bernstein said: "These are people very close to President Biden, who love him, have supported him and among them are some people who have raised a lot of money for him and they are adamant that what we saw the other night is not a one off.
"That there have been 15, 20, occasions in the last year and a half when the president has appeared somewhat as he did in that horror show that we witnessed."
He continued: " What's so significant is the people that this is coming from and also how many people around the president are aware of such incidents including some reporters incidentally who have witnessed some of them.
"These people who have supported him, loved him, campaigned for him, see him often. [They] say that in the last six months particularly there have been marked incidents of cognitive decline and physical infirmity."
Newsweek contacted representatives of President Biden's 2024 reelection campaign for comment by email on Tuesday outside of usual business hours.
Bernstein also claimed multiple insiders had raised their concerns over Biden's health and cognitive state with Ron Klain, his former White House chief of staff and longstanding political confidant.
He said: "The debate prep was supervised by Ron Klain who has been with President Biden for many years and people I've talked to have all been to Ron Klain in the last year to say we have a problem. We have a problem such as we saw the other night. There have been numerous incidences where the president has lost his train of thought, can't pick it up again."
Bernstein shot to prominence when he was heavily involved in exposing the Watergate scandal while working for The Washington Post, and has since gone on to write a number of books on politics and journalism.
Views
In the immediate aftermath of Thursday's debate Johanna Maska, a Democratic consultant and former aide of former President Barack Obama, called for her party to change its 2024 presidential nominee.
She said: "We can not do this Democrats. Biden can't put a sentence together. We have to change our candidate, and we have so many good candidates who are sitting on the sidelines."
Trump branded Biden "a cognitive mess" in a Truth Social post adding: "Crooked Joe 'chocked' like a dog."
Michael Cohen, Trump's ex-lawyer turned trenchant critic, told MSNBC's Ali Velshi that Biden's performance may have been because he was "looking very tired" during the debate.
He said: "Something I think the American people really need to remember here is that while Trump, during the day of the debate, was contemplating on what he was going to eat for breakfast or which golf course he wanted to play golf at that day, Joe Biden was still running the country, and he was tired, and this thing started at 9 p.m. at night.
"And, so, yeah, I get it. He is 80. You know, I get it. He was tired. Probably they should have done it earlier, but 9 o'clock was late."
About the writer
James Bickerton is a Newsweek U.S. News reporter based in London, U.K. His focus is covering U.S. politics and world ... Read more
