- Republican presidential candidate Nikki Haley said Thursday that President Joe Biden needed to take a mental competency test “immediately.”
- Haley was responding to the Justice Department’s blockbuster report that said Biden had “impaired faculties” and was unable to locate important events in his life.
- The 52-year-old former UN ambassador began her presidential career by insisting that politicians over 75 must undergo mental competency tests.
Republican presidential candidate Nikki Haley on Thursday demanded that President Joe Biden, 81, take a mental competency test “immediately.”
The 2024 hopeful was reacting to a hit Justice Department report that said Biden had “diminished faculties” and a bad memory.
In interviews with investigators looking into Biden’s handling of classified documents, the president became confused about the dates he served as vice president and when his oldest son, Beau, died.
“Joe Biden can’t remember important events in his life, like when he was vice president or when his son died,” Haley said. “That’s sad, but it will be even sadder if we have a person in the White House who is not mentally prepared for the most important job in the world.”
“Joe Biden should immediately undergo a mental competency test and should share it with the public,” the former UN ambassador added.
Republican presidential candidate Nikki Haley (L) on Thursday demanded that President Joe Biden (R) undergo a mental competency test “immediately,” after a blockbuster Justice Department report detailed “diminished faculties” of the 81-year-old man.
Haley tweeted her demand Thursday afternoon. She launched her presidential campaign last February by asking politicians over 75 to undergo mental competency tests, a policy aimed at Biden and former President Donald Trump, 77, his main Republican rival.
When Haley, 52, entered the presidential race almost a year ago, on February 15, 2023, the first big policy she pushed was mental competency tests for politicians over 75 years old.
It has become the foundation of his campaign as he pushes for generational change.
‘In the America I see, the permanent politician will finally retire. We will have term limits for Congress and mandatory mental competency tests for politicians over 75,” he told the crowd gathered to watch his announcement speech in Charleston.
He assured voters that “it’s not that America is past its prime, it’s just that our politicians are past theirs.”
“We will not win the fight for the 21st century if we continue to trust the politicians of the 20th century,” said the former governor of South Carolina.
“Joe Biden is not leading from behind, he is not leading at all,” Haley said at the time.
In her opening remarks, Haley did not insist that former President Donald Trump, 77, talk about his age.
Haley, like many of the 2024 Republican presidential candidates who have since dropped out of the race, first treated Trump with kid gloves so as not to alienate the Republican base.
But now that she is the latest to oppose the former president, she has made Trump’s age and physical condition a bigger issue.
During her appearance last weekend on Saturday Night Live, Haley responded to James Austin Johnson’s joke about the movie The Sixth Sense, “I see dead people,” with, “That’s what voters are going to say when they see you now.” Joe on the ballot.”
In a tweet on Tuesday, he highlighted concerns he has raised about the advanced ages of Biden and Trump.
“We all know 80-year-olds who can circle around us…and then we know Trump and Biden,” Haley said. “We need a president who has the focus and resilience to meet all the challenges facing our country.”
Haley has argued to voters that they will get a president either way: her, if Republican primary voters choose the former U.N. ambassador over Trump, something they have yet to do in the Iowa primary. , New Hampshire and Nevada.
He warned that the country could end up with a female president, Kamala Harris, claiming that Biden will not be able to finish his second term and that Trump will not beat Biden in the November general election, even though the former president currently has a lead in the polls.