Speaking with CNN’s Jake Tapper on Sunday, July 21, on CNN’s “State of the Union” program, Speaker of the House Mike Johnson argued that the Democratic Party has, in his view, been engaged in a “big cover-up” of President Joe Biden’s diminishing capacities, a diminishment that was put on full display during his June 27 debate with former President Donald Trump.
Anchor Jake Tapper broached the issue of President Biden’s cognitive capabilities by asking about how the president, who has now dropped out of the 2024 presidential race, seemed in private conversations. Mr. Tapper asked, “You’ve had interactions with the president privately. Has he seemed cognitively impaired?”
Speaker Johnson, responding, said that he had previously been unwilling to discuss personal interactions with the President because of the weakness of his current cognitive state and stories about it project on the world stage, particularly to enemies that might want to take advantage of his seemingly diminished cognitive capabilities.
He said, on that note, “Yes. I mean, look, I didn’t want to come out and talk about, you know, personal interactions with the president because I’ve been concerned about what I just said about this projection of weakness on the world stage in this very dangerous time, but now that the cat is out of the bag, you can hear from the Republican Speaker to affirm what everyone else is known and seen.”
Continuing, he made his argument that the Democrats have been trying to cover up his mental state, saying, “The Democrats have been involved in a big cover-up here. They’ve tried to been trying to prevent the people from seeing what all of us in close proximity have seen he’s not the Joe Biden of even four years ago when he ran for office. He’s he’s not capable of doing it now.”
Continuing, he said that the matter isn’t necessarily Biden’s fault, as everyone starts to have diminished capabilities as they age, saying, “It’s not his fault. I mean, no one can help how they age, how quickly they age, and how their faculties diminish, but that’s clearly happening here, and it’s something that must be contended with.”
Tapper tried to push back on Speaker Johnson’s contention that the Democrats had engaged in a cover-up of Biden’s cognitive capabilities, saying, “Calling it a cover-up, it’s pretty strong words. Are you suggesting that there’s something that needs to be investigated in a serious way by Congress or even law enforcement?”
Speaker Johnson, responding, said that the matter is serious and one side has been trying to support him, saying, “Well, that’s something we’ve discussed. I mean, you’ve seen even in recent weeks, until the debate three weeks ago, top Democrats in Congress and elsewhere were coming on to television regularly saying Joe Biden’s running circles around us.”
Continuing on that same note, Speaker Johnson argued that the over the top support for Biden has been “comical,” telling Tapper, “He could he could compete in the Olympics. I mean, it was just comical. They all knew that wasn’t true. I mean, anybody who interacted with him over the last couple of years knew that that was not true.”
Watch him here:
