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New York Post
22-04-2025
- Politics
- New York Post
Sen. Elizabeth Warren's defense of Biden's mental acuity ridiculed during podcast interview
Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) struggled to justify her defense of former President Joe Biden's mental acuity when grilled over it during a recent podcast interview. 'Do you regret saying that President Biden had a mental acuity, he had a sharpness to him?' Sam Fragoso, host of 'Talk Easy,' asked the Massachusetts Democrat in an interview posted on Sunday. 'You said that up until July of last year,' Fragoso added, noting that Warren had backed Biden up until he bowed out of the 2024 presidential race. Advertisement 'I said what I believe to be true,' Warren responded. Warren was grilled about her past comments defending Biden's fitness for office during a recent podcast appearance. Youtube / Talk Easy with Sam Fragoso When Fragoso pressed, asking the senator if she believed Biden 'was as sharp as you,' Warren paused and appeared to be holding back laughter. Advertisement 'I said I had not seen decline … and I hadn't at that point,' the senator claimed. Warren argued that when she defended Biden, including immediately after his shockingly poor debate performance against President Trump, she had not seen any discernible difference in his mental fitness from the Biden she knew in 2021. 'You know the – the thing is, he is, look, he was sharp. He was on his feet. I saw him at live events. I had meetings with him a couple of times …' Warren rambled, before Fragaso interrupted her. ''On his feet' is not praise,' the stunned podcast host told Warren. ''He can speak in sentences' is not praise.' Advertisement Warren, again, appeared to struggle to contain her laughter. 'Alright. Fair enough. Fair enough,' she responded, backing down from her defense of the former president and then changing the subject. Biden dropped out of the 2024 race last July amid mounting concerns about his age and mental acuity. REUTERS Biden administration officials and Democrats have faced criticism for allegedly covering up the former president's mental and physical decline in the run-up to the 2024 presidential election. Advertisement Former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.), for example, publicly downplayed reports of Biden's cognitive decline up until the former president's disastrous June 27 debate while privately expressing her concerns, according to author Chris Whipple's new book, 'Uncharted: How Trump Beat Biden, Harris, and the Odds in the Wildest Campaign in History.' 'He was not the same Joe Biden,' Pelosi reportedly told a friend of the then-president's condition after receiving the Presidential Medal of Freedom award during a May 2024 White House ceremony. The White House event took place exactly a month before Biden's dramatic decline was detailed in a Wall Street Journal report, where more than 45 Republican and Democratic lawmakers and staffers described a president who spoke so softly during meetings that participants struggled to understand him; did not appear to know what policies were in place; and relied on staffers to answer direct questions. Pelosi, however, slammed the report as a 'hit piece.'
Wall Street Journal
18-04-2025
- Entertainment
- Wall Street Journal
Even Hollywood Couldn't Save Biden
Joe Biden received advice from Steven Spielberg and Jeffrey Katzenberg before his June debate against Donald Trump, according to a new book by Chris Whipple. Given that it was probably the worst presidential debate performance in history, it's no wonder they haven't bragged about it. 'Uncharted: How Trump Beat Biden, Harris and the Odds in the Wildest Campaign in History' recounts how the Hollywood moguls advised Mr. Biden over Zoom on how to answer questions. Mr. Katzenberg then spent a week at Camp David to work with Mr. Biden on his body language in front of a camera. There's a long history of Hollywood types advising Democrats on debates. Every Democratic president since 1960 who has participated in a general-election debate has received debate advice from Tinseltown. It started with the director Arthur Penn, who advised John F. Kennedy before Kennedy's 1960 debate against Richard Nixon. JFK was smooth and effective on television while Nixon, who sounded fine on radio, looked pasty and sweaty to those watching at home. Presidential debates then took a 16-year hiatus. In 1976 they returned, and with them so did Hollywood kibitzing. In 2004 Jimmy Carter revealed that while preparing for his 1976 debate with Gerald Ford, he watched tapes of the 1960 debate 'over and over' with Robert Redford, who gave him tips on what not to do. A grateful Carter recalled he 'didn't know what in the world I was going to do' in the debate: 'I was probably president because of Bob Redford.' When Bill Clinton ran in 1992, he had many eager Hollywood friends looking to offer him advice. His old pals and fellow Arkansans, Linda Bloodworth and Harry Thomason, were Hollywood producers who told him how to capitalize on camera angles at the debates. Comedian and director David Steinberg suggested via the Thomasons that Mr. Clinton look directly at audience members during a town-hall debate, rather than into the cameras. Mr. Clinton did exceedingly well at that debate, especially in contrast to George H.W. Bush, who memorably looked at his watch during a question. Mr. Steinberg wasn't the only Hollywood star to offer advice to Mr. Clinton that cycle. Barbra Streisand sent him a telegram before his first presidential debate in 1992: 'Don't be afraid to let your passion and anger show. The best defense is a strong offense. We honor your convictions and integrity and we will be rooting for you.' As Ms. Streisand described the guidance in her 2023 autobiography, 'I was talking to him like a director.' Barack Obama also drew on Democrats' alliance with progressive Hollywood stars. They weren't shy about giving guidance after Mr. Obama's poor debate performance against Mitt Romney in 2012. Aaron Sorkin, creator of 'The West Wing,' wrote a scene in which President Josiah Bartlet advised Mr. Obama to go after Mr. Romney more aggressively next time by 'learning to pronounce three words: 'Governor, you're lying.' ' The program had ended its run, so Mr. Sorkin fed the scene to New York Times columnist Maureen Dowd, who published it. Not all the advice heading from Los Angeles to Washington has been helpful. As actor Rob Lowe recounted on his podcast in 2021, director Rob Reiner suggested to Al Gore that he get up in George W. Bush's face during their 2000 debate. It didn't work. Mr. Gore's attempt to make Mr. Bush uncomfortable was countered with a dismissive head check that might have been Mr. Bush's best moment in that debate. Unlike that situation, one can hardly blame Messrs. Katzenberg and Spielberg for Mr. Biden's predicament. Mr. Biden didn't have it in him to perform adequately in 2024. The best advice they could have offered Mr. Biden would have been to drop out of the race before taking the stage, but there was no way he would have taken it. Mr. Troy is a Senior Fellow at the Ronald Reagan Institute. He served as deputy secretary of health and human services, 2007-09, and is author, most recently, of 'The Power and the Money: The Epic Clashes Between Commanders in Chief and Titans of Industry.'
Fox News
16-04-2025
- Entertainment
- Fox News
George Clooney calls breaking with Biden in 2024 his ‘civic duty,' says Democrats weren't telling truth
Actor and longtime Democratic supporter George Clooney is standing by his decision to call for a change in the party's 2024 presidential nominee. In a new interview with CNN's Jake Tapper, Clooney described his break with President Joe Biden as a matter of principle. "It was a civic duty," Clooney said in a preview of the full interview airing later on Wednesday. He explained that his decision was prompted by what he saw as dishonesty from his own political allies. "I'm a Democrat in Kentucky so I get it. When I saw people on my side of the street not telling the truth, I thought that was time," he added. Clooney, who hosted a high-profile fundraiser last year that brought in over $30 million for Biden's 2024 campaign, surprised many when he published a New York Times guest essay just weeks later urging Biden to step aside. The Times essay praised Biden's record but warned about the limits of age. "In the last four years, he's won many of the battles he's faced," Clooney wrote. "But the one battle he cannot win is the fight against time." The essay came on the heels of Biden's brutal debate performance against Donald Trump that set off a panic within the Democratic Party. Less than a month later, Biden bowed out of the race and endorsed Vice President Kamala Harris for the party's nomination. Clooney also reflected on the former president's declining presence, noting a stark contrast between Biden towards the end of his term and the energetic figure he once knew. "It's devastating to say it, but the Joe Biden I was with three weeks ago at the fund-raiser was not the Joe 'big F-ing deal' Biden of 2010. He wasn't even the Joe Biden of 2020," he wrote. "He was the same man we all witnessed at the debate." In his CNN interview, Tapper praised Clooney's candor, calling it "brave," a sentiment not universally shared within the Democratic Party. Clooney acknowledged the backlash he's faced since the essay was published but remained resolute. "The idea of freedom of speech, the specific idea of it is, you know you can't demand freedom of speech and then say, 'But don't say bad things about me.' That's the deal, you have to take a stand if you believe in it," he said. "Take a stance, stand for it, and then deal with the consequences. That's the rules." Clooney backed Harris, the party's eventual nominee, and praised Biden's decision to step aside as "saving democracy once again." Biden gave one of his first public speeches since leaving office on Tuesday, condemning recent policy changes under a second Trump administration. Biden's keynote address ran less than an hour. A new book, "Uncharted: How Trump Beat Biden, Harris, and the Odds in the Wildest Campaign in History," released earlier this month, offers new insights into the final months of Biden's presidency. Author Chris Whipple, a former "60 Minutes" producer, writes that Biden's inner circle increasingly limited his contact with longtime friends and allies to hide his alleged decline. According to the book, Clooney was particularly angered by an MSNBC segment that suggested his essay may have been influenced by former President Barack Obama. Whipple writes that Clooney "went absolutely ballistic" over the implication.
Forbes
15-04-2025
- Politics
- Forbes
'Befuddled' And Exhausted During Debate Prep: All The Allegations About Joe Biden's Mental Decline In New Books
Former President Joe Biden appeared exhausted and disconnected from reality during his 2024 campaign, but his inner circle was 'delusional' and genuinely believed he could win, according to a new book, among several in recent months with damning new allegations about the former president's mental state amid the collapse of his presidential campaign last year. Former U.S. President Joe Biden poses backstage on opening night of "Othello" on Broadway at The ... More Barrymore Theatre on March 23, 2025 in New York City. (Photo by Bruce Glikas/WireImage) Former CBS producer and author Chris Whipple's book, 'Uncharted: How Trump Beat Biden, Harris, and the Odds in the Wildest Campaign in History,' reportedly details how top Biden adviser Ron Klain described Biden as 'fatigued, befuddled, and disengaged,' in the lead-up to the debate, and said he ended one debate-prep session early and fell asleep by the pool. Biden was so preoccupied with foreign policy, Klain said he 'wondered half-seriously if Biden thought he was president of NATO,' Whipple wrote. Biden 'didn't look well' and 'didn't sound vital' several days after the debate at a donor event, where he used a path of fluorescent tape on the floor to guide his steps and a teleprompter for what were supposed to be unscripted remarks, The Hill reporter and author Amie Parnes and NBC reporter Jonathan Allen wrote in 'Fight: Inside the Wildest Battle for the White House.' CNN's Jake Tapper, who moderated the Trump-Biden debate, and Axios' Alex Thompson, coauthored a third yet-to-be-released book, 'Original Sin: President Biden's Decline, Its Cover-up, and His Disastrous Choice to Run Again,' in which they say, 'Biden, his family and his team let their self-interest and fear of another Trump term justify trying to put an at times addled old man in the Oval Office.' Whipple concluded that Biden's inner circle genuinely believed Biden was capable of serving another term, characterizing the mindset as 'delusion and denial,' rather than a cover-up—similarly, Klain told the Guardian in response to Whipple's book that he 'never doubted the president's mental acuity,' but that Biden failed, or refused, to grasp what was required to be successful in the campaign. Despite the confidence of Biden and his inner circle, Democratic National Committee officials were working on contingency plans for Biden's potential exit from the race as early as 2023 and aides to Kamala Harris even 'strategized around the possibility that Biden might die in office,' according to 'Fight.' Biden plans to write a book about his presidency and his decision to exit the race, multiple outlets reported in January. 'I am convinced that Joe Biden's inner circle was convinced that Joe Biden was capable of governing, and they believed that he could do it for another four years,' Whipple told NPR. People who visited Biden in the Oval Office said he was 'on top of every nuance of Middle Eastern policy' Whipple wrote in his book, concluding that, 'Joe Biden, behind closed doors, was governing capably,' but he wasn't mentally or physically equipped to run a successful campaign. Biden, 82, publicly dismissed polls that showed voters did not want him to run for another term and insisted he could beat Trump since he had done it before, despite showing blatant signs of aging in both public and private that grew more frequent as the 2024 campaign season neared. Biden's political career effectively ended moments into his June 26 debate with Trump, when he lost his train of thought and continued his shaky performance throughout the 90-minute program. He announced his decision to step down on July 21, amid growing calls from Democrats in Congress to withdraw. Trump's decisive win over Harris, and Republicans' dominance in House and Senate races, left the Democratic party in tatters without a clear messaging strategy or prominent leaders. Many still blame Biden for the 2024 fiasco. Polls show the party's popularity has dropped to record lows. Biden, however, has remained defiant that he could have beaten Trump, he told USA Today in an interview published in January, though he seemed to acknowledge for the first time he might not have been healthy enough to serve another term. 'Who the hell knows?' he said when asked the question. Biden Admits He Might Be Too Old To Have Served Another Term (Forbes) Biden Loses Train Of Thought And Corrects Himself Repeatedly In Debate With Trump (Forbes) Biden Drops Out Of 2024 Race—Here's What Happens Next (Forbes)
Yahoo
10-04-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Pelosi privately said Biden had lost a step, book says, but publicly bashed WSJ story on his cognitive decline
A new book claims that Rep. Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., privately said former President Biden had lost a step ahead of his decision to drop out of the 2024 presidential campaign, before she publicly bashed a Wall Street Journal story on his cognitive decline. Author Chris Whipple's new book, "Uncharted: How Trump Beat Biden, Harris, and the Odds in the Wildest Campaign in History," recounts behind-the-scenes conflicts between Democrats and the Biden team over whether the president needed to step out of the race after his disastrous debate with then-candidate Donald Trump on June 27, as well as revelations about his allies' candid thoughts about him before the debate. According to Whipple's book, Pelosi went to the White House in May 2024 for an awards ceremony and was "startled by how much the president had aged." "He was not the same Joe Biden," Pelosi told a friend, according to the book. Ex-biden Aide Says Former President Was 'Fatigued, Befuddled, And Disengaged' Prior To June Debate: Book Pelosi was at the White House to accept the Presidential Medal of Freedom, but the day was "awkward, even painful" for her as she worried Democrats would suffer on Election Day, the book says. Read On The Fox News App "She couldn't shake the realization that Joe Biden was a shadow of himself," Whipple wrote. The next month, the Wall Street Journal published a bombshell report titled "Behind Closed Doors, Biden Shows Signs of Slipping," which outlined several instances where the president made gaffes and displayed low energy in various meetings with lawmakers and officials, citing dozens of interviews with Republicans and Democrats who either participated in meetings with Biden or were briefed on them at the time. While the Journal's report featured multiple claims that mirrored what the book claims Pelosi felt at the time, she took to social media to trash the "hit piece." "Many of us spent time with @WSJ to share on the record our first-hand experiences with @POTUS, where we see his wisdom, experience, strength and strategic thinking. Instead, the Journal ignored testimony by Democrats, focused on attacks by Republicans and printed a hit piece," Pelosi posted on X at the time. Pelosi's office did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Nancy Pelosi Urged Biden Not To Debate Trump In A Play To His Ego, Book Says Pelosi wasn't the only high-profile person to dismiss the Journal report that was largely pooh-poohed by the mainstream press. MSNBC's "Morning Joe" declared the report was a "Trump hit piece on Biden," and left-wing media watchdog group Media Matters called the report "comically weak." Then-CNN media reporter Oliver Darcy was furious, writing in his newsletter that the "story questioned Biden's mental acuity, playing into a GOP-propelled narrative that the 81-year-old president lacks the fitness to hold the nation's highest office." "The Wall Street Journal owes its readers — and the public — better," Darcy fumed, repeating the White House narrative that such concerns about Biden's fitness were simply laundered GOP talking points. Weeks after Pelosi, other Democrats and liberal pundits mocked the Journal's report, Biden's cognitive struggles were on full display during the infamous CNN debate. Biden was widely criticized for appearing "weak," sounding incoherent and struggling to respond to Trump. His performance set off a widespread panic and calls for him to step aside from the race. He officially dropped out of the race on July 21, less than two months after the Journal report was published. Biden Lashes Out At Reporters Asking About Age Concerns After Special Counsel Report: 'That Is Your Judgment!' Wall Street Journal reporter Annie Linskey, who co-authored the report with Siobhan Hughes, appeared on "America's Newsroom" on the heels of the debate to defend her work. "What we've seen in the last few days, is the reporting that we did was vindicated," Linskey told Fox News host Dana Perino. "The story was a very difficult story to write," she continued. "We spent months working on it… we had a very high bar." Linskey encouraged viewers to read the story "carefully," and Perino said the report was "the best kept secret in Washington." "Pelosi believed Biden's advisers were misleading him, showing him rosy poll numbers. She'd never been impressed by them; in her mind, they were an old boys' club who talked only to themselves," Whipple wrote. The book also details how the president felt "betrayed" by Pelosi after she helped push him out of the race. George Stephanopoulos Described Biden As 'Heartbreaking Up Close' During Crucial Post-debate Interview: Book Whipple said in an interview with Politico about his book that many of Biden's closest aides were in a "fog of delusion" about the former president, and calling it a "cover-up" did not go far enough. "I have fresh reporting on an hour-by-hour, day-by-day basis of Biden's final days, and obviously his decline is a major part of the story," Whipple told Politico on Sunday. "I happen to think that to call it a 'cover-up' is simplistic. I think it was stranger and way more troubling than that. Biden's inner circle, his closest advisers, many of them were in a fog of delusion and denial. They believed what they wanted to believe." The Wall Street Journal did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Fox News Digital's Joseph A. Wulfsohn and Lindsay Kornick contributed to this report. Original article source: Pelosi privately said Biden had lost a step, book says, but publicly bashed WSJ story on his cognitive decline
