CNN senior political commentator Scott Jennings said President Joe Biden’s campaign’s assertion that the president’s debate performance was an anomaly is the “Big Lie of 2024.”
The president’s aides and campaign staff attributed Biden’s disastrous performance to a cold, and argued he appeared sharp and energetic at events following the debate. White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre assured reporters Tuesday that the White House has been transparent on Biden’s health and cognitive state.
Jennings said Biden’s appearance at the debate was truly him at his “best,” raising questions of who is actually running the U.S.
“Look, I think the Big Lie of 2024 is the idea that what happened on Thursday night to Joe Biden is an anomaly or an aberration. There is now credible reporting from Axios, Alex Thompson at Axios, that there has been a three year coverup to try to keep Joe Biden away from other people so folks wouldn’t see just how bad it is,” Jennings said.
CNN’s Scott Jennings says the “Big Lie Of 2024” comes from the Biden campaign pic.twitter.com/wB1L0o7yBb
— Daily Caller (@DailyCaller) July 3, 2024
Biden’s aides have reportedly shielded the president from the public to hide his mental state, Axios reported. Current and former White House aides have sounded the alarm on the president and have acknowledged the debate is far from the first “bad day.”
“I know many of these people and how the White House operates,” Chandler West, the former deputy director of photography for the White House, said. “They will say he has a ‘cold’ or just experienced a ‘bad night,’ but for weeks and months, in private, they have all said what we saw last night — Joe is not as strong as he was just a couple of years ago.” (RELATED: Biden’s Debate Night Was Bad—His Tuesday May Have Been Even Worse)
Many aides in the White House were also shocked by what they saw at the debate, having been kept at a distance from the president throughout his first term, according to Axios.
Jennings cited a New York Times piece where aides expressed concern about Biden being placed in the same room as other world leaders.
“Last night, Joe Biden told donors to the Democratic Party that the reason he was bad on Thursday night was because of his foreign travel. A trip that ended twelve days before the debate,” Jennings said. “What we saw on Thursday night was Joe Biden at his best. Seven days of rest, prep with his top staff. That was Joe Biden at his best. I’ve honestly stopped worrying about the campaign and I have one question, who’s running the White House today, who’s making decisions today? I’m not really worried about the presidency in January, I’m worried about it right now.”
“We have serious problems going on right now, and I don’t really think Joe Biden is up to the task today, let alone seven months from today.” he continued.
The debate heightened voters’ concerns about the 81-year-old president’s age and mental capacity to serve a second term. Former President Donald Trump earned the lead in the race 41% to 38% after the debate, after being tied 37% to 37% in a previous May survey, according to a USA Today/Suffolk University poll.
The Biden campaign spent months without agreeing to a debate with Trump, who had challenged the president to enter the debate stage.
