Watergate reporter Carl Bernstein claims Biden’s staffers have witnessed up to 20 ‘marked incidence of cognitive decline and physical infirmity’ in the ailing president in the last 18 months

Carl Bernstein claims White House insiders have told him that the president’s visibly poor health during Thursday’s first debate has been noted before over the past 18 months.

During the 90-minute, torturous debate, the president frequently lost track, trailed off mid-sentence and switched topics, prompting a cacophony of calls from politicians and pundits for the 81-year-old to step down.

The performance has sparked unprecedented panic within the party, with many wondering whether Biden, 81, should withdraw or even resign.

Bernstein, 80, has long been an icon in Washington journalism, responsible for uncovering the Watergate scandal that led to the downfall of Richard Nixon 50 years ago.

While he told Anderson Cooper that Biden was “at his absolute best” during his brief speech responding to the Supreme Court ruling on presidential immunity, his advisers and aides, who love and admire the president, said that “there have been striking instances of cognitive decline and physical weakness, particularly in the last six months.”

In an interview Monday, Bernstein admitted to multiple sources that he said Biden had looked very similar to the way he did Thursday night at least 15 to 20 times over the past year and a half.

‘[My sources] “We are absolutely convinced that what we saw the other night — the Joe Biden that we saw — is not a one-time occurrence,” he told Anderson Cooper.

According to Bernstein, many have gone as far as former White House Chief of Staff Ron Klain, who has been criticized by his family and advisers for his handling of Biden’s debate preparation, and many have expressed concerns about the president’s health.

“They’ve all gone to Ron Klain over the last year to say ‘we have a problem,’ as we saw the other night.”

He says that the president often “loses the thread” while speaking and cannot pick it up again.

Bernstein also appeared to nod to recent incidents of Biden outright “freezing” in public in recent weeks, which White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said were “deep fakes.”

He mentioned a fundraiser where he was the first onstage at the Four Seasons Hotel in New York in June 2023 and then seemed to go stiff, “almost like rigor mortis.”

“A chair had to be set up so he could do the last part of the event,” Bernstein added.

The general message they gave to Klain was, ‘we need to talk about this,’ but they’re closed.

Biden still holds his own on key issues such as foreign policy, Bernstein sources say.

“There’s no question about it. I’ve been hearing for two years how sharp Joe Biden is in his national security meetings, on Ukraine, on the situation in Gaza… he has absolute control of the facts.”

But that’s not who he always is. He says, “We’re clearly dealing with two sets of one person,” adding that Biden “has good days.” [and] bad days.’

Bernstein claims that not only do “a great many” high-ranking Democrats agree, but some of them have even publicly stated that they still support the president.

“But this is a problem that’s not going to go away unless it’s explainable. Does that mean doctors’ reports? I mean, it would be great if we could have actual doctors’ reports for both candidates. Well, that’s not going to happen.”

Biden’s health was questioned by many in the months and even years leading up to the debate, but discussions have recently reignited after a series of questionable public freezing incidents.

DailyMail.com asked Jean-Pierre about recent videos of former President Barack Obama and Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni accompanying him after the events, and whether they had been asked to do so.

“Let’s not forget: President Obama and President Biden have a relationship. They’re friends. They’re like family. And I think that’s what you saw,” she said, referring to a video after a $30 million fundraiser in which Biden stood still for several seconds as the audience applauded at the end of the event before Obama grabbed his arm and led him off the stage.

She also dismissed the video of Italian Meloni, who also grabbed Biden by the arm during a G7 event where leaders watched a skydiving demonstration. Biden briefly left the group to greet a skydiver, but was led back by Meloni for a photo opportunity.

“That was definitely a cheap fake,” she said.

It was a skirmish that Jean-Pierre seemed ready to have. She had previously dismissed the videos as “cheap fakes” when first asked about them during her briefing on Monday. It was her first confrontation in a few days.

Biden still has no plans to retire or leave office, as he continued to campaign after the debate.

During the debate, Trump was seen contorting his face in shock and ridicule at Biden’s confused ramblings and frequent debate gaffes. At one point, he told millions of Americans watching at home, “I really don’t know what he means. [Biden] just said.

“He is not fit to be president. You know that and I know that.”

ABC News will host the second debate on Tuesday, September 10, but it’s hard to imagine how a hapless, weary Biden could rise to the challenge, no matter how hard his wife, Jill, continues to push and lie to him.

The focus of this weekend’s post-election debate was largely on the Biden family, who gathered at Camp David to discuss their patriarch’s political future while major donors and celebrity supporters plotted their own courses of action.

The family has been unequivocal in its support of the president, even wondering how they can get involved further. Their troubled son Hunter is demanding that his father get back into the race.

Many, however, have begun to blame Biden. They point to the poor preparation of Biden’s advisers for the debates against Donald Trump. Moreover, time is of the essence, as Democrats panic over his nosedive in the polls after the Atlanta election battle.