Biden denies cognitive decline in office

Former President Joe Biden denied he suffered cognitive decline while serving in the White House, saying allegations trickling out since he departed his position were off base.
“They are wrong,” Biden said on an episode of ABC’s “The View” on Thursday. He was asked about “deeply sourced” books that indicated a sharp decline in his last year in office. “There’s nothing to sustain that.”
Host Whoopi Goldberg brought up Biden’s catastrophic debate that took place in June, though she did not press him on what had happened and instead calling it a “bad night.” Biden sent Democrats into a panic during his debate performance against Trump; at times he couldn’t finish a sentence, stared off into the distance, and declared nonsensically: “We finally beat Medicare.”
Goldberg suggested that some in the party made too much of the episode, and Biden agreed.
“We still were winning the primary. We were still doing everything. The Democratic Party at large didn’t buy into it, but the Democratic leadership and some of the very significant contributors did,” Biden began. He went on to say he left a well-organized campaign to his Vice President Kamala Harris, flush with cash. “But you know what happens, is that it took on a life of its own. I had a very bad — I’m going to say something outrageous, I haven’t lost many debates in my life. I’ve been pretty good at doing that.
“I was sick. I was — no excuse. I had a bad, bad night,” Biden said.
Biden ultimately stepped aside from seeking the Democratic nomination in 2024. He said on Thursday he could see that he was dividing the party and didn’t want that to happen.
Biden’s appearance alongside his wife, Jill Biden, marks a ramp-up in his public posture. In April, Biden traveled to Chicago to make his first public remarks since leaving the presidency. He derided Trump’s policies as heartless and criticized the president’s top lieutenant, billionaire Elon Musk, for calling Social Security “the biggest Ponzi scheme of all time.”
Biden at one point on “The View” was asked why Trump seemed so fixated on him and blamed him for everything.
Biden said simply: “I beat him.”