• 3 months ago
Questions surrounding President Biden’s mental competence have surfaced as the White House faces increased scrutiny. Watch how the administration responds to tough inquiries about the President’s health in this press briefing. Is the White House failing to defend Biden’s mental fitness? Tune in to get the latest updates and see the full exchange.

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Transcript
00:00I am not a young man, obviously.
00:02I'm not as a good debater as I used to be.
00:04I don't talk as smooth, I don't talk as...
00:06I don't walk as easily as I used to.
00:08He owned that the debate was not his best night.
00:11Is President Biden considering stepping down?
00:14Absolutely not.
00:16And you heard, I believe, directly from the campaign as well.
00:19How can he return, though?
00:21And he blamed jet lag yesterday.
00:23Hold on a second.
00:24Look, it is not unusual for a president to use a teleprompter.
00:27It is not unusual.
00:28I didn't get into the president specifically about what he meant by that,
00:31so I want to be really mindful.
00:32I don't want to get into that.
00:34But I think what the president was trying to say
00:36is that he had a schedule that was rigorous,
00:40you know, the travel that he had to do,
00:43crossing multiple, obviously, you know,
00:48going from Italy all the way to the West Coast.
00:53And I think, as you know, that can have a toll on anyone,
00:58whether you're 20 or 80, that can have a toll on you.
01:01And so I think that's what he was alluding to, speaking to.
01:05I don't want to go beyond that because I haven't spoken to him
01:08on the other component of when he was speaking about his staff.
01:13But as it relates to, certainly, the travel, it was rigorous.
01:17He had a rigorous travel.
01:18We talk about it sometimes.
01:19I think I've mentioned this with some of your colleagues,
01:22that he has a, especially when he travels abroad,
01:25it's a pretty rigorous travel.
01:27We get tired looking at him doing his meetings and traveling.
01:31And so I think that's what he was speaking to.
01:34And I don't think it has a toll on, regardless of what age you are,
01:38it has a toll on you, that type of travel.
01:41Okay.
01:42Thank you.
01:43There's no question that international travel can be rigorous.
01:45I think the confusion is that he's still suffering from the effects of that
01:49nearly two weeks later.
01:51So can you articulate a little bit about, like,
01:54do you guys usually have accommodations for him after he does a trip,
01:58that he's going to have jet lag for that long a period of time?
02:02So when you say two weeks later, what do you mean?
02:05He arrives back in the United States 12 or 13 days before the debate.
02:09So his explanation for a poor debate performance is jet lag.
02:13So what I want to say is it's the jet lag and also the cold, right?
02:18It is the two things that occurred.
02:22And you all heard it in his voice when he did the debate, right?
02:27And it is not even something that we shared ahead of time.
02:29You heard it in his voice, and we confirmed it.
02:32And I think that's important to note as well.
02:34Like, it is the jet lag and the cold.
02:37But I want to be really clear here.
02:39This is not an excuse, right?
02:41This is not an excuse.
02:42You all asked for an explanation, and we're giving an explanation.
02:45It is not an excuse.
02:47I don't want that to be the leading piece of this.
02:51The only reason we're sharing this, because it was asked of me here,
02:54and the President certainly wanted to give an explanation himself,
02:57and that's what he did yesterday.
02:59We understand that it wasn't his best night, it wasn't a great debate.
03:05We understand that, and we understand what supporters saw,
03:09what the American people saw, and what you all saw.
03:11And so we wanted to give an explanation.
03:14So I don't want to get into this, oh, are you giving this excuse, not an excuse.
03:18We're giving you what our explanation was.
03:21We want to continue to make sure that we do everything that we can
03:26to deliver for the American people.
03:28That's what we're going to continue to do.
03:30I also want to ask just about the schedule again.
03:33Because a lot of high-level Democrats, I think,
03:36were concerned with the debate performance,
03:38but they've also been almost just as or more concerned about the response since then,
03:43that he hasn't done more.
03:45He spoke for four minutes in public on Monday evening on the Supreme Court decision,
03:50and he spoke for about ten minutes in public yesterday with the emergency weather situation.
03:56And he's going to speak today.
03:57He's going to go to Wisconsin.
03:59He's going to go to Pennsylvania.
04:00This truly is an emergency situation.
04:02It's taking almost a week for him to sort of address it.
04:05When there's natural disasters, when there's other things happening,
04:08he wants to get in front of the cameras and speak to it.
04:11In this case, there seems to be multiple days before it happens.
04:14Matt, I would disagree with you.
04:15He did address it.
04:16He addressed it on Friday in North Carolina in front of hundreds of supporters.
04:20He addressed it.
04:22And he talked about an issue that you all ask me about all the time, his age.
04:27Like, he took it head on, literally head on.
04:30He didn't run away from it.
04:31He didn't hide from it.
04:33He said, I am not a young man, obviously.
04:36I'm not as a good debater as I used to be.
04:38I don't talk as smooth.
04:39I don't walk as easily as I used to.
04:42He said it himself to hundreds of supporters in North Carolina.
04:46So I would disagree that he didn't take this head on.
04:49He did.
04:50He did.
04:51He talked about it in front of supporters.
04:55He's had one instance with that, and he's called six people.
04:59But by the way, that matters, right?
05:01Engaging with the American people and standing in front of them
05:04and being honest about that and talking about age.
05:09Again, something that you all ask me about all the time.
05:12He took that right on.
05:14Now, he is talking and engaging with leaders.
05:18That is something that he's doing.
05:20He's having good conversations with them.
05:22He's going to meet with Democratic governors,
05:24governors who he believes have been really strong partners with him
05:28and delivering on some of these historic accomplishments.
05:31But I would disagree on him not taking this head on.
05:38I mean, being in North Carolina and taking that head on,
05:43obviously that's not the speech that he was going to give on Thursday,
05:46before the debate.
05:49So he understood when he got to North Carolina that he needed to address it,
05:54and he decided to do it in front of supporters.
05:57And he talked about it.
05:58But he understands the concerns.
06:00He understands what people saw.
06:03And that's why he's spoken to it multiple times.
06:06And he's spoken about his age, for example, multiple times,
06:09not just this past Friday.
06:12And he gets it.
06:14He gets it.
06:15We get it.
06:17And so what we're going to do is continue to look forward,
06:22continue to work on behalf of the American people.
06:25And there is a record here.
06:26There is a record here that we can speak to.
06:29There is a record here that matters to a majority of Americans.
06:32We were able to turn some things around, whether it's the pandemic,
06:36the economy, expanding health care.
06:38All of those things matter to the American people.
06:41And so that's going to be certainly our focus.
06:44But, you know, the president gets it, guys.
06:47He does.
06:48He gets what people saw and how people felt.
06:51He was on the way to the debate.
06:53The doctor was with him.
06:54He had a cold.
06:55He's 81.
06:56Does he not get checked out by the doctor?
06:58I can tell you he did not get checked out by the doctor.
07:02It's a cold, guys.
07:03It's a cold.
07:04And I know that it affects everybody differently.
07:07We have all had colds.
07:09And so, no, he was not checked by the doctor.
07:12What was your other question?
07:13How does he look today?
07:14Does he still have the cold?
07:15Well, I saw him today.
07:16My team and I saw him today.
07:17He looked great.
07:18And he was with the vice president.
07:19They both look great.
07:20I know I was asked yesterday if he still had a cold.
07:23I think he still has a lingering cold.
07:25But he is ready to go.
07:28He's ready to go.
07:29I kind of have to wrap it up.
07:30Go ahead.
07:31Thanks, Karine.
07:32Sources have told ABC that the president recognizes how
07:35difficult his political predicament is.
07:37So, how has his mood been as of late?
07:40Has he been down?
07:41Has he been frustrated?
07:42I just mentioned, I think, multiple times at this point
07:45that I got to see him.
07:47My team and I got to see him and the vice president.
07:49He's great.
07:50He's, like, in a great mood.
07:53Ready to get things going.
07:54He's going to do the Medal of Honor later today.
07:57He's going to meet with Democratic governors.
07:59And that's kind of what you want to see, right,
08:02from your leader.
08:03Has he had any frustrations with you at all?
08:05What I can say is that he wants to move forward.
08:08That's what he wants to do.
08:09He wants to move forward.
08:10Acknowledge, right?
08:11Acknowledge what happened.
08:13Be very clear-eyed about it.
08:15And very forthcoming and honest about what you all saw.
08:20But he also knows that he's the president of the United States.
08:23He has to continue to work and deliver
08:25on behalf of the American people.
08:27That's what he has to continue to do.
08:29And that's how he's going to move forward.
08:32All right, everybody.
08:33Thanks, everyone.

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