President Joe Biden, 81, took naps during each of the six days of debate prep, which never began before 11:00 a.m., a person familiar with the process told the New York Times.
Biden’s “lapses” are “increasingly common and worrisome,” the report also stated.
The leak to the Times represents frustration within the Biden campaign, which is reeling from a poor debate performance and subsequent calls for Biden to drop out of the race. It was the second damning leak about Biden on Tuesday.
White House spokesman Andrew Bates denied both reports.
Biden, who admitted Tuesday during a fundraiser that his back-to-back trips to Europe impacted his rest, was so drained by the trip that his debate prep was cut short by two days so he could spend time resting before rehearsals began with advisers at Camp David, the Times reported based on multiple sources:
The uncomfortable occurrences were not predictable, but seemed more likely when he was in a large crowd or tired after a particularly bruising schedule. In the 23 days leading up to the debate against former President Donald J. Trump, Mr. Biden jetted across the Atlantic Ocean twice for meetings with foreign leaders and then flew from Italy to California for a splashy fund-raiser, maintaining a grueling pace that exhausted even much younger aides.
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The recent moments of disorientation generated concern among advisers and allies alike. He seemed confused at points during a D-Day anniversary ceremony in France on June 6. The next day, he misstated the purpose of a new tranche of military aid to Ukraine when meeting with its president.
On June 10, he appeared to freeze up at an early celebration of the Juneteenth holiday. On June 18, his soft-spoken tone and brief struggle to summon the name of his homeland security secretary at an immigration event unnerved some of his allies at the event, who traded alarmed looks and later described themselves as “shaken up,” as one put it. Mr. Biden recovered, and named Alejandro N. Mayorkas.
Seventy-two percent of registered voters believe Biden does not have the “mental” and “cognitive health” to serve as president, a CBS News/YouGov poll found Tuesday, up seven points after the debate.
Biden, whom Special Counsel Robert Hur described as “an elderly man with a poor memory,” suffers from atrial fibrillation, peripheral neuropathy in his feet, and hyperlipidemia, according to his annual physical by physician Kevin O’Connor.
The health challenges might explain why he struggles to remain upright. Biden tripped, tumbled, and stumbled at least five times during his presidency.
Biden implemented a strategy of walking to and from Marine One with multiple aides to “draw less attention” to his physical ailments, Axios’s Hans Nichols and Alex Thompson reported in April. Biden also began boarding Air Force One from the shorter steps at the rear of the aircraft instead of the taller staircase at the front.
Biden does not wear typical dress shoes with his suits. He wears a specially crafted sports shoe to help him walk, a typical wardrobe change for the elderly.
Wendell Husebo is a political reporter with Breitbart News and a former GOP War Room Analyst. He is the author of Politics of Slave Morality. Follow Wendell on “X” @WendellHusebø or on Truth Social @WendellHusebo.
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