Prominent Democrats in Congress are defending President Joe Biden as concerns about his age and mental fitness reach a fever pitch during his re-election run.
Former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) told CNN on Monday that she has worked with Biden — who is the oldest person to be president at 81 and would be 86 at the end of a second term — for a “long time” and warned anyone who “would think that they’re at some advantage because of his age, thinks that at their peril because he’s very sharp.”
“Age is an objective fact. As I say, it’s all relative. He’s younger than I am,” Pelosi, who is 83, said. “So what do I have to say about his age?” Pelosi touted Biden’s experience and “vision” while dismissing his gaffes as a “slip of the tongue here or there.” Biden “has what he needs mentally and what he has in his heart empathetically for the American people,” Pelosi added.
NEW: Former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi defended President Biden's mental acuity, saying, "He's very sharp."
— Insider Paper (@TheInsiderPaper) February 13, 2024
Fresh questions about Biden’s ability to lead effectively were spurred by the release last week of a report by special counsel Robert Hur that criticized Biden’s handling of classified documents. Although Hur did not recommend charges, the report said Biden exhibited memory problems that likely would preclude a jury from convicting him.
Biden responded to Hur’s findings in an impromptu press conference during which he insisted that his memory is “fine” and then mixed up world leaders. In the days leading up to the report’s unveiling, Biden made headlines for talking about discussions with European heads of state who had died by the time he said the conversations took place.
"I talk to President Biden, you know, regularly. … His mental acuity is great, it's fine, it's as good as it's been over the years."
— Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) rejects concerns about Biden's memory after the special counsel's classified documents report pic.twitter.com/AQiztW0EN6
— The Recount (@therecount) February 13, 2024
Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY), who is 73, told reporters that he speaks to Biden “regularly,” usually several times a week, and insisted the president’s “mental acuity is great, it’s fine, it’s as good as it’s been over the years,” dating back three decades. He also claimed “right-wing propaganda” about Biden’s mental acuity being in decline “is wrong.”
While polls do not reflect as much concern about the age of former President Donald Trump, the 77-year-old GOP frontrunner in the 2024 presidential race, Schumer said Biden is “going to win the election because he has a great record, because more and more Americans are seeing that record, because the economy is improving, and because a large number of Americans — including Republicans — fear a Donald Trump presidency for the future of our democracy.”