Jeffries: ‘Fair' that Americans are questioning if Trump is ‘actually fit'
House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-N.Y.) said on Tuesday he thinks it's fair for Americans to be questioning whether President Trump is 'actually fit' to be commander-in-chief.
'Trump spent the last year-and-a-half questioning the cognitive ability of President Joe Biden, notwithstanding many of the legislative accomplishments that Donald Trump could only wish he got over the finish line,' Jeffries said in an interview on 'The MeidasTouch Podcast' on Tuesday.
'And so, I think it's fair that a lot of Americans across the country that I run into are questioning whether Donald Trump is actually fit, at this point, to be able to carry out the duties of the United States of America, in terms of being the president and the commander-in-chief,' the Democratic leader continued.
Jeffries was responding to host Ben Meiselas's question about whether 'more needs to be discussed about his [Trump's] cognitive abilities' after 100 days in office.
Meiselas cited as a basis for his question several examples of seemingly untrue or exaggerated comments Trump has made: from suggesting that he's already made 200 trade deals — when, Meiselas said, 'there's not 200 countries' — to 'saying he's having conversations with world leaders, and these conversations are not happening.'
Meiselas also pointed to the fact that a group of islands inhabited only by penguins and seals was on Trump's tariff list and that Trump broke with the dress code at Pope Francis's funeral.
Jeffries entertained cognitive decline as a possible explanation but suggested Trump could just be lying.
'We know that this is someone who has spent a lifetime lying in every aspect of his life, and he lies seamlessly,' Jeffries said. 'And, so, you just wonder whether the other explanation is that some of this is just his willingness to try to consistently lie to the American people.'
The Hill has reached out to the White House for a response.
Earlier this month, White House physician Sean Barbabella reported that Trump 'remains in excellent health' after his annual physical exam.
Barbabella said Trump also scored a 30 out of 30 on the Montreal Cognitive Assessment, a test commonly used to detect memory issues or cognitive impairment.
Trump — who repeatedly accused former President Biden of declining cognitive abilities — suggested he took the cognitive test partly as a dig at the former president.
'Overall I felt I was in very good shape. Good heart. A good soul. Very good soul,' Trump told reporters earlier this month. 'I took — I wanted to be a little different than Biden. I took a cognitive test. I don't know what to tell you other than I got every answer right.'
Trump is set to turn 79 in June. He will be 82 at the end of his term, which would make him the oldest individual to hold the office by just a few months over Biden when he left office in January.
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