Biden, aides urged to be open about his health

Washington, United States — AFP

Democrats shocked by Joe Biden’s dismal debate performance have urged the US president to be transparent about his mental fitness as he faced the first call from his own side to drop out of the election.

Some supporters have expressed growing doubts about the 81-year-old over last week’s televised showdown with Donald Trump, after Biden stumbled over his words and lost his train of thought — exacerbating fears about his age.

Congressman Lloyd Doggett became the first Democratic lawmaker to publicly call on Biden to make way for another candidate, saying he was hopeful the president would “make the painful and difficult decision to withdraw.”

Nancy Pelosi, a former House speaker and a grandee of the Democratic Party, said in her own statement it was “legitimate” to ask whether Biden’s debate disaster was indicative of a deeper problem rather than a one-off.

She praised Biden’s vision and “strategic thinking” in an interview with cable network MSNBC — but admitted he had had a “bad night” and said it was fair to raise the mental acuity of “both candidates.”

Democratic Senator Sheldon Whitehouse also asked for reassurances, saying voters needed to know there would be no repeat of Biden’s sub-par showing.

Whitehouse, of Rhode Island, told WPRI-TV he was “pretty horrified” by the president’s performance during the 90-minute CNN match-up, watched by more than 50 million Americans.

Biden has not given a live interview or held a press conference since the debacle, meaning he has not had to give unscripted comments under pressure again.

ABC News announced that he would be interviewed by the network on Friday, with the first clips released that day, before the full interview airs Sunday.

Biden has visibly slowed over the last year.

It has been several months since the president, who has fallen in public on several occasions, stopped using his plane’s wide gangway, preferring a shorter, more stable staircase.

Biden, who has always been gaffe-prone, has not given a long press conference since January 2022 and spends almost every weekend in one of his Delaware homes, with no official schedule.