Questions over whether President Joe Biden is healthy enough to serve as commander-in-chief continue to proliferate.
Though speculation over Biden’s mental acuity dates back beyond 2020, it sharply increased following the first general election presidential debate on June 27, which saw the president fumble with his words, appear constantly confused and look all-around unwell.
A Monday report from The Wall Street Journal certainly won’t be quieting the noise.
Rather, it seemingly confirmed that Biden’s lackluster mental state has been affecting his responsibilities as president for years now.
According to the report, Secretary of State Antony Blinken stepped in for Biden during a key meeting with German officials in June 2022.
German Chancellor Olaf Scholz set up the event to speak with President Biden about the Russia-Ukraine conflict.
Knowing then the president’s difficulty with late-night meetings, German officials made a point to set the meeting earlier in the evening, the Journal reported.
Nevertheless, to the surprise of Scholz, Biden didn’t show.
Blinken had stepped in to take the president’s place.
Should Biden be removed from office?
When asked why the president had failed to show up for this important meeting, Blinken announced that he had gone to bed.
That’s right: The president of the United States canceled an important early-evening meeting with foreign leaders at the last minute because he “had to go to bed,” two people who were reportedly present at the meeting told the Journal.
Biden officials denied Blinken’s quote, with State Department spokesperson Matthew Miller saying, the secretary of state “never said that or anything like it.”
Nevertheless, if true, the story falls in line with other reporting from the Wall Street Journal dating years back.
The Journal also reported that senior Biden aides turned down an idea to have the president make weekly cross-country trips in 2022 over concerns that the move would be taxing on his health.
Despite a steady stream of negative reports such as this, President Biden continues to resist growing calls from Democrats for him to drop out of the 2024 presidential race.
In a Monday call between Biden and his donors obtained by Politico, Biden was adamant that he’s “done talking about the debate.”
“We need to move forward. Look, we have roughly 40 days til the convention, 120 days til the election. We can’t waste any more time being distracted,” Biden said.
