Clyburn denies Biden's decline: ‘Never saw anything that I thought was unusual'
Rep. James Clyburn (D-S.C.), a close confidant of former President Biden, said Sunday that he was never concerned about Biden's ability to lead the country, even as the release of new audio and a forthcoming book have renewed questions about the former president's cognitive abilities.
'The fact of the matter is, I saw Biden often,' Clyburn told CNN's Jake Tapper in a 'State of the Union' interview. 'I talked to him on the telephone very often, and I never saw anything that I thought was outside of the ordinary.'
Tapper is one of the authors of the book 'Original Sin,' which has offered new insight into Biden's final stretch in office, but Clyburn pushed back on Tapper's points that some Biden advisers expressed alarm or came forward with anecdotes about Biden's memory lapses.
'I never saw anything I thought was unusual,' Clyburn said. 'I never saw anything that allowed me to think that Joe Biden was not able to do the job.'
Axios on Friday published audio from a 2023 meeting between Biden and special counsel Robert Hur, who was investigating the then-president's handling of classified documents between Biden's time as vice president and his presidential election. It showed Biden's apparent difficulties in answering questions about documents and remembering important dates.
Clyburn acknowledged he was 'concerned' by Biden's stilted performance in his only debate against President Trump last year, which was a catalyst for Biden's decision to drop out of the 2024 presidential race just months before Election Day, but he said he considered outside factors that Biden faced.
'A lot of us were a bit concerned about his schedule in the run-up to the debate,' he said. 'And I called it at the time 'preparation overload,' because they were cramming at the end, into a four- or five-day period, preparation for the debate.'
'The question is, is this a condition, or is this an incident?' Clyburn added. 'These kinds of concerns are out there, but none of us thought that there was anything here that created any suspicions of any prolonged condition.'
Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Fox News
18 minutes ago
- Fox News
House GOP secures four key witnesses in Biden mental-decline probe as former aides agree to talk
Four former Biden aides have agreed to voluntarily testify in House Oversight Republican's investigation into an alleged cover-up of former President Joe Biden's mental decline and potentially unauthorized issuance of sweeping pardons and other executive actions. The four voluntary, transcribed interviews, confirmed today by a GOP Oversight Committee aide, will include the director of Biden's former Domestic Policy Council, Neera Tanden, Biden's assistant and senior advisor to the first lady, Anthony Bernal, former special assistant to Biden and Deputy Director of Oval Office Operations, Ashley Williams, and Biden's Deputy Chief of Staff, Annie Tomasini. Tanden will appear before the House Oversight Committee on June 24, Bernal two days later on June 26, while Williams will testify July 11 and Tomasini on July 18. News of the voluntary testimonies comes after Biden's former White House doctor, Kevin O'Connor, declined to sit for a transcribed interview on June 27, according to Oversight Committee Republicans leading the probe. Fox News Digital reached out to the former president's office for comment, but did not hear back in time for publication. This is a breaking story and will be updated as new information becomes available.
Washington Post
40 minutes ago
- Washington Post
The Latest: Pentagon says deploying Marines and National Guard to LA will cost $134 million
After persistent questioning from members of Congress on Tuesday, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth turned to his acting comptroller, Bryn Woollacott MacDonnell, who provided the amount it would cost to send the National Guard and Marines to immigration protests in Los Angeles . She said the $134 million will come from operations and maintenance accounts.
Associated Press
43 minutes ago
- Associated Press
Gabbard says AI is speeding up intel work, including the release of the JFK assassination files
WASHINGTON (AP) — Artificial intelligence is speeding up the work of America's intelligence services, Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard said Tuesday. Speaking to a technology conference, Gabbard said AI programs, when used responsibly, can save money and free up intelligence officers to focus on gathering and analyzing information. The sometimes slow pace of intelligence work frustrated her as a member of Congress, Gabbard said, and continues to be a challenge. AI can run human resource programs, for instance, or scan sensitive documents ahead of potential declassification, Gabbard said. Her office has released tens of thousands of pages of material related to the assassinations of President John F. Kennedy and his brother, New York Sen. Robert F. Kennedy, on the orders of President Donald Trump. Experts had predicted the process could take many months or even years, but AI accelerated the work by scanning the documents to see if they contained any material that should remain classified, Gabbard said during her remarks at the Amazon Web Services Summit in Washington. 'We have been able to do that through the use of AI tools far more quickly than what was done previously — which was to have humans go through and look at every single one of these pages,' Gabbard said. The intelligence community already relies on many private-sector technologies, and Gabbard said she wants to expand that relationship instead of using federal resources to create expensive alternatives. 'How do we look at the available tools that exist — largely in the private sector — to make it so that our intelligence professionals, both collectors and analysts, are able to focus their time and energy on the things that only they can do,' she said. Gabbard, who coordinates the work of 18 intelligence agencies, has vowed to shake up America's spy services. Since assuming her role this year, she has created a new task force to consider changes to agency operations as well as greater declassification. She also has fired two veteran intelligence officers because of perceived opposition to Trump, eliminated diversity, equity and inclusion programs and relocated the staff who prepare the President's Daily Brief to give her more direct control.
