Legendary journalist Carl Bernstein revealed that people close to Biden in the White House told him that the president’s visibly delicate state of health at Thursday’s first debate has been seen on numerous occasions over the past 18 months.
During the tortuous 90-minute debate, the president frequently lost his train of thought, trailed off mid-sentence and confused the issues, prompting a cacophony of calls from politicians and pundits in both parties for the 81-year-old to resign.
The performance has sparked unprecedented panic in the party, leading many to question whether Biden, 81, should step down or even resign.
Bernstein, 80, is a long-standing journalistic icon in Washington, having uncovered the Watergate scandal that brought down Richard Nixon 50 years ago.
While he told Anderson Cooper that Biden was “at the top of his game” during his brief speech in response to the Supreme Court ruling on presidential immunity, his advisers and staffers who love and admire the president say that “over the last six months, in particular, there have been marked incidents of cognitive decline and physical illness.”
Legendary journalist Carl Bernstein revealed that Biden’s White House associates have told him that the president’s visibly deteriorating health at Thursday’s first debate has been seen numerous times over the past 18 months. Pictured: Biden freezes on stage during a recent fundraiser with Barack Obama
In an interview Monday, Bernstein said he had been told by multiple sources that Biden’s expression was very similar to the one he had on Thursday night at least 15 to 20 times over the past year and a half.
“(My sources) insist that what we saw the other night — the Joe Biden we saw — is not an isolated case,” he told Anderson Cooper.
Bernstein said many have gone as far as former White House chief of staff Ron Klain, who faced criticism from family and advisers for his performance in preparing Biden for the debate, with his concerns about the president’s health.
‘They all went to Ron Klain last year and said, ‘We have a problem,’ as we saw the other night.’
He says the president often “loses his train of thought” while speaking and is unable to get back on track.
Bernstein also seemed to nod to recent incidents of Biden openly “freezing up” in public in recent weeks, which White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said were “deepfakes.”
He cited a fundraiser where he started at his podium and then appeared to stiffen, “almost like rigor mortis” at the Four Seasons in New York in June 2023.
“They had to bring him a chair so he could do the last part of the event,” Bernstein added.
Bernstein, 80, is a long-standing journalistic icon in Washington, having uncovered the Watergate scandal that brought down Richard Nixon 50 years ago.
In an interview Monday, Bernstein said he had been told by multiple sources that Biden looked very similar to how he did Thursday night — and at this Juneteenth celebration with Vice President Harris — at least 15 to 20 times over the past year and a half.
The general message Klain has been given is “we need to talk about this,” but they have been denied access.
Biden remains able to hold his own on key issues such as foreign policy, Bernstein sources say.
“There’s no question about it. I’ve been hearing for two years how sharp Joe Biden is in his meetings on national security, on Ukraine, on the situation in Gaza… He has an absolute command of the facts.”
However, he is not like that all the time, saying: “Clearly we are dealing with two groups of the same person,” adding that Biden “has good days (and) bad days.”
Bernstein says that not only do “a huge number” of senior Democrats agree, but some of them have already made public statements backtracking and saying they still support the president.
“But this is a problem that’s not going to go away unless it’s explained. Does that mean medical reports? I mean, obviously it would be great if we could have actual medical reports from both candidates. Well, that’s not going to happen.”
Biden’s health has been questioned by many in the months and even years leading up to the debate, but talk has recently increased following a series of questionable public freezing incidents.
DailyMail.com asked Jean-Pierre about recent videos of former President Barack Obama and Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni guiding him after the events, and whether they had been asked to do so.
Biden remains able to hold his own on key issues such as foreign policy, Bernstein’s sources say, but adds that “he has good days and bad days.”
DailyMail.com asked Jean-Pierre about recent videos of former President Barack Obama and Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni (pictured) guiding him after the events, and whether they had been asked to do so.
“Let’s not forget: President Obama and President Biden have a relationship. They’re friends. They’re like family. And I think that’s what you saw,” he said, referring to the video after a $30 million fundraiser in which Biden stood motionless for several seconds as the audience applauded at the end of the event before Obama took him by the arm and led him off the stage.
He also dismissed the video of Meloni, of Italy, who also grabbed Biden by the arm during a G7 event where leaders watched a skydiving demonstration. Biden briefly stepped away from the group to greet a skydiver, but Meloni pulled him back for a photo op.
“That was definitely a cheap fake,” he said.
Jean-Pierre appeared ready to provoke a fight after criticising the videos as “cheap fakes” when he was first asked about them at the start of his briefing on Monday, his first in days.
Biden has no public plans to step down or resign from office yet, as he has continued to campaign since the debate.
During the debate, Trump was seen contorting his face in shock and mockery at Biden’s confusing ramblings and frequent debate gaffes, at one point telling millions of Americans watching at home: “I really don’t know what he[Biden]just said.”
“He is not fit to be president. You know it and I know it.”
ABC News is scheduled to air the second debate on Tuesday, September 10, but it is hard to see how the hapless and tired Biden could rise to the challenge, no matter how much his wife Jill continues to pressure and lie to him.
ABC News is scheduled to air the second debate on Tuesday, September 10, but it is hard to see how the hapless and tired Biden could rise to the challenge.
Much of the post-debate weekend attention has focused on the Biden family, who gathered at Camp David to discuss their patriarch’s political future, while big donors and celebrity supporters plot their own courses of action.
The family has offered unequivocal support to the president and has even wondered how they can get more involved, with his troubled son Hunter insisting his father fight to get back into the race.
But many have begun to shift blame, citing poor preparation by Biden’s advisers for the debate against Donald Trump and that time is of the essence as Democrats panic over their post-Atlanta poll decline.