Washington
CNN
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The White House on Tuesday pushed back against tough questions about President Joe Biden’s mental health, acknowledging his poor performance in last week’s debate while asserting that the president is still capable of holding office and running for office.
“First of all, I want to say that we understand the concerns. We understand them. The president did not have a very good evening,” said White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre.
She later added: “We are not taking back anything that the American people have seen.”
Tuesday’s news conference, the first since the debate, came as Biden faces one of the most difficult periods of his presidency and his reelection campaign struggles. Campaign officials are scrambling to calm donors who were shocked by Biden’s halting, hoarse performance. The White House announced Tuesday that Biden is expected to meet with Democratic governors and congressional leaders on Wednesday, after some requested a meeting with the president. Some officials have been put off by the Biden campaign’s dismissiveness of their concerns about the president’s health. And earlier Tuesday, a Democratic member of Congress became the first to call on Biden to drop out of the race.
The White House preempted reporters’ first questions by announcing that Biden would participate in two high-profile events over the next week: an interview with ABC’s George Stephanopoulos that will air in part on Friday and a solo news conference at the NATO summit in Washington next week.
Such unplanned events are rare for the president, who CNN has noted has lagged behind his most recent predecessors in formal news conferences. Thursday’s debate was the biggest Biden has faced since his last debate against former President Donald Trump four years ago, adding to the shock some felt at his performance.
Asked about how Biden regularly presents himself at the debate, Jean-Pierre pointed to a speech Biden gave in North Carolina the day after the debate: “He understands that he’s not a young man,” she said, adding that his goal will be to continue to “meet the expectations of the American people on the issues that matter to them.”
In a high-profile story published Tuesday, The New York Times reported that people in the room with Biden were increasingly concerned about how he had presented himself recently, describing the president as appearing confused at times during two high-profile trips to Europe in recent weeks.
Biden has increasingly indicated he is aware of the problems with his debate performance as the fallout within his own party has grown. The president said at a fundraiser Tuesday that he “almost fell asleep on stage” during CNN’s presidential debate last week and blamed his poor performance on his grueling travel schedule, according to pool reports.
“I decided to go around the world a few times … shortly before the debate … I didn’t listen to my team … and then I almost fell asleep on stage,” Biden said at the fundraiser in Virginia on Tuesday night. The remark was met with brief laughter from those in attendance, according to a recording of the president’s remarks.
Several reporters in the room said they thought the phrase “fell asleep” sounded like a joke and that Biden was trying to downplay the situation in a self-deprecating way, but it didn’t work, in their view.
According to a CNN analysis of his schedule, Biden had nearly two weeks between his return from Italy on June 15 for the G7 meeting and the June 27 debate.
Jean-Pierre reiterated during the press briefing that Biden had been sick during last week’s debate, adding that he still has a cold. The president did not take any cold medication before the debate, she said.
“I don’t see this as an episode,” Jean-Pierre said. “I see it as what it was and what we believe it to be, which is that it was a bad night.”
She added that the administration is “absolutely not” hiding information about the president’s health or his ability to do his job.
Jean-Pierre also addressed recent reports that Hunter Biden had joined his father in recent meetings at the White House. NBC was first to report Hunter Biden’s participation in those meetings. Jean-Pierre said the president’s son, who was convicted last month on three counts of firearms, returned to the White House with his father after spending the weekend at Camp David and “went into a meeting with him” to prepare Biden’s speech Monday night on the Supreme Court’s decision in Trump’s immunity case.
“And he ended up spending time with his father and his family that night. That’s basically what happened,” Jean-Pierre said. “They were at Camp David together. They came back together.”
Jean-Pierre also declined to answer a question from CNN’s MJ Lee about a CNN poll taken after last week’s debate showing Vice President Kamala Harris outpacing Biden in a hypothetical race against Trump.
The poll shows Harris within striking distance of Trump in a hypothetical matchup: 47% of registered voters support Trump and 45% Harris, a result within the margin of error that suggests there is no clear leader in such a scenario.
Jean-Pierre gave a confused response, referring the investigation to the president’s re-election campaign.
“What I can speak to is the president’s record. What I can speak to is what he’s been able to accomplish,” she said. “And what he’s been able to do and achieve … is actually consistent with what the majority of Americans do. And I think it’s important to note that, and again, I will say that with age comes wisdom and experience. And that’s certainly something that the president brings.”
In a brief interview with CBS on Tuesday afternoon, Harris dismissed the idea of running in Biden’s place: “Look, Joe Biden is our nominee. We beat Trump once and we’re going to beat him again, period,” she said.
This story has been updated with additional reporting.
CNN’s Betsy Klein and MJ Lee contributed to this report.
