A scathing article about President Biden’s The mental acuity — which included mistakes and instances of low energy during private meetings — sparked backlash from Democrats in Congress, allies in the media and the White House, who denounced the article as nothing more than a “false” narrative.
Now President Biden’s closest advisers are striking back. Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm “This article is nonsense,” he told Fox News Digital directly.
“The president is totally on his game,” he said. “He is the smartest, most knowledgeable person in the room. He asks the toughest questions and has the deepest insight into the complex questions brought to him. He is incisive, thoughtful and intelligent.”
Fox News Digital contacted each member of the Cabinet and many of them responded promptly for this article.
Earlier this year, a report by Biden’s own Justice Department special counsel called him “an elderly man with a failing memory” near the end of an investigation into the mishandling of classified documents dating to his Senate tenure that ultimately protected him from charges brought against him by special counsel Robert Hur.
At 81, Biden is the oldest president and his critics say his age has left him cognitively behind. If he is re-elected in November, he will be 86 when his second term ends.
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Biden has made mistakes ever since he was vice president, but the frequency and nature of his verbal gaffes have seemed more significant in recent years.
In May, Biden seemed disconnected from reality when he revealed years of confusion about the timing of the COVID pandemic when he said, “And when I was vice president, during the pandemic, things were really bad, and, what happened was Barack said to me: ‘Go to Detroit — and help fix it.’” The pandemic occurred several years into Biden’s tenure as vice president.
The president has referred to dead people as alive on several occasions. At a White House event in 2022, Biden called out to former Rep. Jackie Walorski during a speech, saying, “Jackie, are you here? Where is Jackie?” Walorski died in a car crash last month.
At a campaign rally in February, Biden told the audience, “Right after I was elected, I went to the G7 meeting in southern England. And I sat down and said, ‘America is back!’ And Mitterrand from Germany — I mean France — looked at me and said, ‘How long have you been back?’” Mitterrand was president from 1981 to 1995 and died in 1996.
In 2021, Biden claimed he had spoken Recalling past conversations during fundraising events with the late German Chancellor Helmut Kohl, who died in 2017.
Late Tuesday night, The Wall Street Journal published a report detailing incidents in which the president has displayed a lack of candor in private meetings with staff and members of Congress.
Several of the people who work most closely with the president are coming forward to say the Wall Street Journal got everything wrong.
President Biden, second from right, meeting with his cabinet on January 5 in Washington, DC. (Bill O’Leary/The Washington Post via Getty Images)
Granholm’s sentiment was echoed by officials at the highest levels of the government, including Secretary of State Antony Blinken.
“I’ve worked for President Biden for 22 years,” Blinken told Fox News Digital. “Even now in strategy discussions and meetings with foreign leaders, his depth of knowledge, fluency in policy and politics, and ability to get straight to the point and make his case are extraordinary. He’s always one step ahead of us.”
Attorney General Merrick Garland attested to the president’s mental acuity on domestic issues.
“I have the utmost confidence in the president,” Garland said. “As a member of the president’s Cabinet and the National Security Council, I have consistently witnessed firsthand his ability to resolve issues of extraordinary complexity that are of the utmost importance to our national security.
“I’ve also watched him tackle domestic policy issues, guiding us clearly and decisively through complex questions and reaching outcomes that benefit the American people.”
Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen also objected to the notion that the president is in a state of mental decline, saying in a statement to Fox News Digital, “Both In Washington And in meetings with world leaders around the world — including difficult conversations with President Xi — I have always found President Biden to be extremely well-informed, well-versed in facts, and highly effective in advancing American interests.”
President Biden arrives with US Attorney General Merrick Garland during the Medal of Valor ceremony in the East Room of the White House on May 17, 2023 in Washington, DC. (Al Drago/Bloomberg via Getty Images)
Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas also denied the statement.
“I strongly disagree with the characterization in the story,” Mayorkas said. “I fully prepare for my meetings with President Biden knowing that his questions will be detailed, in-depth and to the point. In our exchanges, the president always draws on our past conversations and past events in analyzing issues and reaching his own conclusions.”
Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin agreed with Mayorkas’ assessment, saying, “I’ve seen President Biden make tough decisions around national security and his commitment to keeping our troops safe, so I have full confidence in our commander-in-chief.”
Gina Raimondo, ex Rhode Island The governor and current Commerce Secretary fully supported her boss, saying, “I have spent countless hours with President Biden, discussing everything from our strategic competition with China to the technical aspects of the CHIPS for America program, and in every conversation he has been sharp, focused, and pragmatic. I cannot disagree more strongly with that article’s inaccurate portrayal of the President. I wouldn’t want to see anyone else leading our country today.”
President Biden speaks with Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo, Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg, and Department of Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas during a Cabinet meeting in the Cabinet Room of the White House on November 12, 2021 in Washington, DC (Drew Angerer/Getty Images)
VA Secretary Denis McDonough also came to Biden’s defense.
“Not only is President Biden as scathing and trenchant as ever, but he is holding the VA accountable every day — he Me “I must be accountable every day — working for veterans,” McDonough said. “This article is completely inconsistent with the person I have been for 12 years.”
“I’ve been in dozens of one-on-one and larger meetings with President Biden, and I’ve always found his ability to tackle tough issues together to be astonishing,” Education Secretary Miguel Cardona said in a statement.
“President Biden has always had a deep understanding of policies at every level, and he always remembers to present policies in a way that shows how they’re going to help the American people.”
Former President Trump and President Biden. (associated Press )
It’s not surprising that President Biden’s most senior advisers are pushing back against the narrative that the president’s mental acuity is declining. But talk of his decline began long before the Wall Street Journal article. Former President Trump and his supporters have long attacked Biden’s cognitive state. Trump has referred to his opponent as “Sleepy Joe” since 2019.
These attacks may have been effective in shaping public opinion. According to a Pew Research poll released in late April, only 21% of respondents have a lot or a lot of confidence in Biden’s mental abilities, while 16% have some confidence and 62% have little or no confidence at all.
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