Top Democrat Adam Smith admits Biden ‘does not have the normal strength’ to campaign, which will make his 2024 re-election ‘difficult’ after report detailing his memory problems and ‘elderly’ age
- Democrat Adam Smith said on CNN Biden ‘does not have normal strength’
- The president held a last-minute press conference Thursday to dispel doubts about his mental acuity after a report said he has a ‘poor memory’
- Smith said Biden’s diminished strength will prove “difficult” as he campaigns
Democrat Adam Smith conceded Friday that President Joe Biden’s weakened strength will be difficult for his 2024 reelection campaign.
His comments come the day after a long-awaited Justice Department report on Biden’s handling of classified documents vindicated the president for wrongdoing but condemned his “diminished faculties” and “poor memory.”
“Look, I’m not going to fool you on one point, it’s a challenge that he’s as old as he is,” Smith, D-Wash., said on CNN on Friday. ‘No doubt.’
Biden “doesn’t have the normal strength to go out and campaign, you know, to have meeting after meeting and conversation after conversation. And that will be difficult during the campaign.’
“President Biden may not be the best campaigner in the world,” Smith said, before adding, “he’s doing a good job as president.”
Smith is a ranking member of the powerful House Armed Services Committee and a leader among House Democrats.
Rep. Adam Smith, D-Wash., said Biden’s age will be a “challenge” for his campaign
President Joe Biden held a press conference on Thursday to talk about his age and abilities
Following Thursday’s report, Biden held a hastily assembled news conference to address his mental competency.
‘I know what I’m doing!’ Biden raged from the White House that evening.
‘My memory hasn’t gotten any worse. My memory is fine. “Look at what I’ve done since I became president,” he continued.
“Nobody thought I could get through the things I was given. How did that happen? I guess I just forgot what was going on….”
Later in his remarks, Biden rattled the presidents of Mexico and Egypt, drawing further scrutiny from his critics.
Robert Hur, the special counsel brought in by the DOJ to lead the investigation into Biden, included some particularly devastating excerpts in his report, including a tidbit that Biden forgot when his son Beau died.
Special counsel Robert Hur, a Trump appointee, said in his report that Biden has a “poor memory.”
Hur’s investigation focused on whether Biden illegally mishandled documents, which he did, although the special counsel recommended not indicting the president
Biden “even within a few years no longer remembered when his son Beau died,” Hur wrote.
Additionally, the special counsel noted how Biden forgot about it when he was vice president.
“He couldn’t remember when he was vice president, forgot the end of his term on the first day of the interview (“if it was 2013, when did I stop being vice president?”), and forgot on the second day of the interview as his term began (“Am I still vice president in 2009?”).”
Republicans see the report as evidence that the president is unfit for his job. Many have already called on federal officials to use the 25th Amendment to impeach Biden.
“It’s time for his Cabinet to invoke the 25th Amendment,” Sen. Rick Scott, R-Fla., wrote on X.
Fellow Republican Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene of Georgia agreed.
“The Special Counsel’s report showing that Joe Biden’s mental decline is so severe that he cannot stand trial means he is unfit for office,” she wrote on X.
“We must demand that the 25th Amendment be invoked or face impeachment,” the GOP continued.
The 25th Amendment, which has never been used before, gives the vice president and the Cabinet the power to remove the commander in chief from office by majority vote if it is determined that he or she is no longer fit for office.