Pelosi says Biden ‘very sharp’: ‘He’s younger than I am’
Former House Speaker Rep. Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) defended President Biden’s mental acuity Monday, calling him “very sharp” and saying she cannot judge the president as she is older than him.
“I’ve worked with the president for a long time, especially closely as Speaker when he was president, and now since then, and he knows … I mean, he’s always on the ball,” she said during an interview with CNN’s Anderson Cooper. “He knows these issues; he knows the legislation. He helped write some of it; he campaigned on it.”
“Anyone who would think that they’re at some advantage because of his age thinks that at their peril, because he’s very sharp,” she continued.
Cooper noted some Democrats are concerned over the president’s age and mental fitness, and referred to Biden’s gaffe last week when he mixed up the leaders of Egypt and Mexico.
It was the third time in a week that the president appeared to mix up world leaders and came during a last-minute press conference in which he lashed out at special counsel Robert Hur’s scathing report that detailed various memory lapses.
Hur’s assessment of Biden as an “elderly man with a poor memory” was included as part of his investigation into the president’s handling of classified documents and pushed concerns over Biden’s age and ability to serve further into the spotlight.
At 81, Biden is the oldest sitting U.S. president and, if reelected in November, he would be 86 at the end of his second term.
Pressed for her response to these concerns, Pelosi said, “Well, I think that people do make mistakes. I think his age is one thing, that’s an objective fact. His … make a mistake from time to time. … We all do that.”
“So I think that again, age is an objective fact,” Pelosi, 83, added later. “As I say, it’s all relative. He’s younger than I am, so what do I have to say about his age?”
The former Speaker also pointed to former President Trump, who she claimed would make the “same mistake seven times” about “one thing or another.”
“It wasn’t a slip of the tongue, it was a complete … going down a path of something that wasn’t even true, intentionally or otherwise,” Pelosi said, referring to Trump.
Trump, 77, has had his own gaffes in recent months, including mixing up Pelosi with GOP presidential candidate Nikki Haley when discussing the Jan. 6, 2021, Capitol riot.
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