The revelations of former President Joe Biden’s deteriorating health throughout his tenure have focused attention on statements made by his administration’s leaders at the time.
Karine Jean-Pierre, the White House press secretary, was among the most vocal authorities in support of Biden’s physical and mental endurance. She denied in the past that the former president was suffering from cognitive impairment or other health problems as early as 2022.
In June 2022, Jean-Pierre seemed surprised when then-CNN anchor Don Lemon asked her if Biden would have the “stamina” to serve a second term.
“That is not a question that we should be even asking,” she said before adding that reports of Biden’s declining cognitive faculties were “hearsay.”
“Don, you’re asking me this question. Oh my gosh. He’s the President of the United States… just look at the work he does. And look how he’s delivering for the American public,” she said.
In a news conference in August 2023, Jean-Pierre referred to claims that Biden was closing engagements as early as 10 a.m. due to “ridiculous assumptions” because he was tired. When asked if Biden’s staff “treats him like a baby” the next month, the press secretary retorted.
“No one treats the President of the United States, the commander in chief, like a baby. That’s ridiculous. It’s a ridiculous claim,” she responded.
After Special Counsel Robert Hur declined to prosecute Biden for the alleged mishandling of classified documents last year, claiming that a jury would consider him to be a sympathetic “elderly man with a poor memory,” Jean-Pierre said his assessment “does not live in reality.”
“The reality is, that report, that part of the report does not live in reality. It just doesn’t. It is gratuitous. It is unacceptable, and it does not live in reality,” Pierre said at the time.
In their new book, “Original Sin,” CNN anchor Jake Tapper and Axios writer Alex Thompson provide unsettling details of the inner workings of the Biden White House, revealing that the president’s top officials were trying to conceal his purported cognitive impairment from the public and even his own Cabinet.
According to the book, Biden regularly forgot the names of his staffers, Cabinet secretaries were not allowed to see the then-president, his aides openly wondered if he would require a wheelchair if he were to serve a second term, and he failed to recognize well-known supporter George Clooney when they met in person at a 2024 fundraiser.
In a June 2024 interview with MSNBC’s Nicole Wallace, she also called videos showing Biden looking confused or weak “cheap fakes” and said that they were based on “misinformation.”
Jean-Pierre stood firm at the podium after Biden’s June debate performance shocked Democrats and sparked a push to remove him from the 2024 contest. She said at one time that Biden was more adroit than before.
Peter Doocy of Fox News asked Jean-Pierre if there was a White House “cover-up” of his health after he withdrew from the campaign in July of last year.
“First of all, there’s been no cover-up,” Jean-Pierre told Doocy, adding, “I want to be very clear about that.”
After encouraging her husband to run for re-election despite his mental impairment and, potentially, the prostate cancer developing inside of him, a seasoned opinion columnist at the Washington Post is accusing former First Lady Jill Biden of “elder abuse.”
Sally Quinn, a socialite and opinion leader from Washington, D.C., attacked Jill in a recent interview with fellow journalist Tara Palmeri, claiming that establishment Democrats were “horrified” by Jill Biden’s actions.
A senior counselor to the Assistant Attorney General for Civil Rights suggested that Jill Biden could potentially face criminal charges.
Leo Terrell of the DOJ went so far as to suggest that Jill Biden should – or at least could – be prosecuted.
Reposting a tweet from a conservative internet personality, Terrell wrote, “Elder Abuse! Criminal Charges??”
Top doctors and medical experts have expressed surprise at the delay in discovering Biden’s prostate cancer.
