Republican Louisiana Sen. John Kennedy ripped the White House on Friday for doing President Joe Biden “a disservice” after his first post-debate interview with ABC News.
Kennedy appeared on “Hannity” to discuss Biden’s interview with ABC News’s George Stephanopoulos. Biden had dismissed his poor debate performance as a “bad night” while critics’ raised concerns of his mental fitness. Following a clip of Biden’s interview in which the president claimed former President Donald Trump was “shouting” at him, Fox guest host Kayleigh McEnany called out the claim as false before having Kennedy weigh in. (RELATED: Joe Biden Repeatedly Denies Reality In Primetime ABC Interview)
“Well, look, actually, as we all know, the microphones were cut off when it wasn’t the speaker’s turn and I don’t really understand what President Biden was referring to. I do think that the White House is doing their president — our president — a disservice tonight. The White House says that, well — they’re like Kevin Bacon at the end of ‘Animal House’ — ‘All is well, don’t panic. We’ve been transparent the entire time.’ This White House, they wouldn’t know transparency if it jumped up and yodeled and bit them in the butt,” Kennedy said.
Kennedy continued to blast the “cover-up” of Biden’s mental fitness by media members who have only now begun to question Biden as the Democratic nominee, with some Democratic pundits pushing for a new option. The senator also highlighted special counsel Robert Hur’s declining to prosecute Biden; his report described the president as an “elderly man with a poor memory.”
“There has been a cover-up and many members of the media have participated in [it]. And now some members of the media, they’re running around going, ‘We’re dumbfounded, we never saw any sign of this.’ And they’re asking, ‘Is the president — can he stand for reelection?’ His own Justice Department, a few months ago, said that he’s not even competent to stand trial. What planet did these people parachute in from? The American people may be poorer under President Biden, but they’re not stupid. And their concerns and suspicions have been confirmed,” Kennedy said.
As calls to remove Biden as the party’s 2024 presidential nominee surfaced following his poor June 27 debate performance, the president remained firm in his position to continue his run against Trump. National polls since the debate, however, have shown the former president jump in support from respondents; The New York Times/Siena College and The Wall Street Journal, for example, have estimated Trump commands a three-point lead.
Following the debate, voters have also expressed a growing concern for the president’s mental fitness, with 72% of Americans believing Biden no longer has the mental and cognitive health to serve as president, according to a CBS/YouGov poll.
