- Senator Lindsey Graham believes all presidential candidates should take cognitive tests.
- Both Biden and Trump would have to prove their fitness to run for office, he told CBS.
- His comments come as Biden faces growing pressure to drop out of the race due to health concerns.
Sen. Lindsay Graham says anyone running for president should take a cognitive test, including his longtime ally, former President Donald Trump.
Speaking on CBS’s “Face The Nation” on Sunday, the South Carolina Republican said that since “70 percent of the public believes that President Biden is not mentally and physically capable of being president,” he should take a cognitive test to prove his mental capacity.
CBS host Robert Costa then asked Graham if he thought Trump should also take the test.
“Yes, yes, I think both are necessary. All presidential candidates should in the future have neurological exams as part of a general physical exam,” Graham said.
He added: “What concerns me is that our allies see a compromised Joe Biden, our enemies see a compromised Joe Biden, and I am offended by the idea that he should not pass a competency test given all the evidence that we have.”
Trump also challenged Biden to take a test before the CNN presidential debate, in which the latter performed dismal.
At a Turning Point Action conference in Detroit on June 15, Trump said, “He doesn’t even know what the word ‘inflation’ means. I think he should take a cognitive test like I did.”
Trump claimed to have taken a cognitive test in 2018 and has since bragged about passing the test with flying colors.
However, the test’s creator said the assessment Trump likely took was “not intended to measure IQ or intellectual skills in any way,” but rather to detect whether someone has possible cognitive issues like memory problems.
Any adult without cognitive problems should score high, according to the test’s creators. Trump also did not retake the test after 2018.
Graham’s comments come as Biden grapples with intense backlash over his poor performance in the June 27 debate.
Several Biden supporters have called on him to withdraw from the race.
Five House Democrats have called on Biden to drop out of the race, predicting he will lose to Trump in the November election.
Despite the mounting pressure, Biden remained resolute. He called his mumbling and incoherent sentences during the debate a “bad episode” and “no sign of serious trouble,” in an interview with ABC News on Friday.
Since the debate, his campaign has offered a series of reasons to try to explain his less-than-stellar performance, including a cold, jet lag and poor preparation.
Representatives for Biden, Trump, and Graham did not immediately respond to Business Insider’s requests for comment sent outside of normal business hours.
