CNN
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President Joe Biden told Democratic governors at a White House meeting Wednesday that part of his plan going forward is to stop scheduling events after 8 p.m. so he can get more sleep, according to three sources briefed on his comments.
The remarks, first reported by The New York Times, came as Biden, 81, sought to reassure a group of more than 20 state leaders that he could defeat former President Donald Trump in November and govern effectively for another four years.
01:37 – Source: CNN
‘It’s inappropriate’: Jean-Pierre reacts to comment during White House briefing
Biden’s comment left several governors in the room frustrated, sources told CNN, and is one reason some attendees were angered by the declaration of loyalty and enthusiasm from them distributed by the Biden campaign on Thursday.
The White House did not immediately comment on the president’s remarks. A Biden campaign adviser argued that in addition to preparing for the debates in the week following his two trips to Europe, Biden had been working official hours on top of his campaign work hours.
“President (George W.) Bush went to bed at 9 p.m. and President (Barack) Obama cooked dinner at 6:30 p.m.,” Biden campaign spokesman Kevin Munoz said. “Normal presidents have a balance, and Joe Biden does. They don’t have the rigor of Donald Trump, who spends half his day ranting on Truth Social about plans that would cause a recession and the other half playing golf.”
Biden also made a joke to the governors that didn’t go down well: “I’m fine, but I don’t know what’s going on with my brain.” Jen O’Malley Dillon, Biden’s campaign manager, said the president was “clearly making a joke and then said, ‘No kidding.'”
After Biden’s poor performance in CNN’s presidential debate last week, some Democrats began calling for the president to drop out of the race, forcing the White House to scramble to convince skeptics within the party and voters. In the days since, administration officials have offered confusing and contradictory explanations in an attempt to portray a performance that has exacerbated voters’ concerns about Biden’s age.
Biden himself indicated Thursday that he intends to stay in the race, telling service members and their families that he would stay in office.
A participant at the White House Fourth of July barbecue told the president: “We need you.”
“You got me,” the president replied, before the participant shouted again.
“I’m not going anywhere,” Biden reiterated.
After Wednesday’s meeting, Governors Wes Moore of Maryland, Kathy Hochul of New York and Tim Walz of Minnesota painted a positive picture of the meeting at a news conference, adding that Biden was “all in” and “in it to win.”
In response to a reporter’s question, Walz dismissed any concerns about Biden’s age and health, saying the president was “fit for office.”
Campaigning for Biden in South Haven, Michigan, on Thursday, California Gov. Gavin Newsom — who attended the meeting in person — told CNN that Biden’s acknowledgment of his fatigue shows he is “human” and said he felt people were making too much of the remark.
“Look at his schedule, look at the fundraisers that you don’t see. All that work, the work that you do behind the scenes, the phone calls that you make at all hours of the night. The management of the alliance, everything that he’s doing to prepare for NATO this week, what they’re doing to make a deal with Hamas and Israel,” Newsom said.
Biden, the oldest president in U.S. history, has faced questions about his age and health for years. Those questions came to a head during the debate, when he was hoarse and sometimes unintelligible, allowing Trump — who is just three years younger than Biden — to appear healthier. A majority of debate watchers saw the former president as the winner of the matchup, according to a CNN poll.
Biden’s debate performance opened the floodgates for increased scrutiny and reporting on the president’s health, with sources describing a decline in his mental fitness.
The New York Times reported earlier this week that the president’s “lapses” have increased and become more worrisome, with a source telling the Times that preparations for Biden’s six-day debate at Camp David did not begin until 11 a.m. and that the president had time to nap each day.
White House spokeswoman Karine Jean-Pierre sidestepped a question at Wednesday’s briefing about whether the president was taking a daily nap after the Times report. But she cited jet lag and travel fatigue as reasons for Biden’s poor debate performance, after previously attributing it to a cold.
As pressure mounts for him to consider dropping out of the race and concerns grow over his ability to serve another term, CNN previously reported that Biden has said privately that the next few days will be crucial to whether he can salvage his reelection bid.
This story has been updated with additional details.
CNN’s Kaanita Iyer, Aaron Pellish, Samantha Waldenberg, Jack Forrest, MJ Lee and Betsy Klein contributed to this report.
