Senator Todd Young (R-Ind.), Who joined Capito at a February meeting with Biden in Covid’s relief, said he saw nothing wrong: “I visited him in the Oval Office, and he looked well prepared and well informed for the meeting. “
During the 2020 campaign, Biden – who stuttered as a child – resisted Trump’s attacks on his colleges, discarding clips of his verbal tics and small lapses in memory. Trump’s allies are still trying to paint Biden as if he’s deteriorating in office, even after he remained largely answering questions at a 62-minute press conference on Thursday. While the most centrist Republican senators interviewed this week do not criticize their colleagues for presenting unsubstantiated theories about Biden’s health, their mixed reactions show a lasting chasm between those Republicans who publicly imitate the jugular trump policy – and those who shy away from it .
Of course, some pro-Trump GOP senators are willing to cross that line.
“It’s sad to see people grow old,” said Sen. Ron Johnson (R-Wis.), A Trump ally who was one of Biden’s most strident critics. Johnson added that he shares concerns about the president’s fitness: “I think a lot of Americans do, from what we’ve seen. It’s sad.”
Senator Mike Lee (R-Utah) appears to share similar concerns, although he has yet to publicly disclose them. He texted an acquaintance earlier this month to say that Biden reminds him of someone he knows who started developing Alzheimer’s disease.
“Of course, I have no medical training and I cannot diagnose a condition – especially in someone I do not interact with personally on a daily basis – but from a distance I can see that he is not well,” wrote Lee, according to private communications reviewed by POLITICO. “Sad. And disturbing.”
Lee’s office declined to comment further on these messages.
Since taking office, Biden has fostered relationships with a small group of moderate Republican senators, courting some Republican votes for his various legislative priorities. And while Republicans were frustrated that Biden approved a $ 1.9 trillion aid project from Covid without his votes, they apparently found him at high speed during your personal interactions.
Senator Bill Cassidy (R-La.), A doctor, said that Biden “listened very carefully and appropriately” during his recent personal meeting. Asked whether he disagrees with the assessment of some Republican colleagues who express more concerns, Cassidy replied, “I just commented on what I see.”
Senators Rob Portman (R-Ohio) and Thom Tillis (RN.C.), who also attended the February Oval Meeting with Biden, echoed that sentiment. And a third Republican senator at that two-hour meeting went even further.
“My experience in that scenario was that the president performed well,” said Senator Jerry Moran (R-Kan.). During his conversation with the 10 Republican senators who visited the White House, Moran recalled, the president did not trust his team or the vice president for information.
Several pro-Trump senators have avoided Biden’s health in interviews, focusing his criticisms on his agenda.
“What worries me about the Biden administration are the left-wing policies that are being put into practice in the first months of his term,” said Senator Ted Cruz (R-Texas).
Senator Josh Hawley (R-Mo.) Described Biden’s delay in holding a press conference before Thursday as “weird” and “weird”. Pressed on whether it relates to his health, the potential presidential candidate for 2024 objected: “I don’t know the answer to that and, frankly, I don’t think it really matters.”
One of the 10 Republican senators who sought the Oval Office meeting in February with Biden also declined to comment on the president’s performance.
“I’m not going there,” said Sen. Mike Rounds (RS.D.). “I’m going to focus on the real things he’s doing.”
After Thursday’s presidential press conference, Trump’s allies continued to question Biden’s perspicacity. “A president with cognitive decline is a national security risk,” tweeted Rep. Lauren Boebert (R-Col.). “It’s time to stop dancing around that.”
Biden “struggled to get through”, tweeted Rep. Ronny Jackson (R-Texas), who previously served as a White House doctor for Trump and former President Barack Obama.
A report by the Pentagon’s inspector general recently concluded that Jackson abused alcohol and behaved inappropriately with women while working at the White House.
The White House declined to comment on Republican claims about Biden’s health. But in the past, Biden’s campaign officials saw this speculation as irresponsible nonsense.
Notably, ABC News reported last fall that the Department of Homeland Security issued a bulletin warning that Russia was spreading misinformation about Biden’s mental health in an attempt to influence the 2020 elections.
Trump answered similar questions about his health throughout his tenure, including after an episode at the end of his tenure, in which he staggered down a ramp after giving a speech at the United States Military Academy in West Point, New York. Trump’s evident weakness on the ramp, shortly after he turned 74, spawned popular hashtags on Twitter like “TrumpIsUnwell” and “TRUMPstroke”.
Biden also spoke about Trump’s health to reporters after the ramp incident. “See how he steps and how I pass. Watch how I run down ramps and he trips over the ramps. Come on, ”said the then Democratic candidate.
In a Monday interview with Newsmax, Trump responded, calling Biden’s fall “terrible”. Trump complained that “media with unsatisfactory flow” largely failed to address the stumbling blocks of his successor and compared the media coverage he received after the West Point moment with the attention Biden is receiving.
“[T]the last thing I wanted to do was fall, as Biden did, ”said Trump.
Christopher Cadelago contributed reporting.