Schumer Digs In as He’s Grilled on ‘Misleading’ Public About Biden’s Mental Decline
The Democratic Party’s leader in the Senate has denied claims he helped mislead the US public over the state of President Joe Biden’s cognitive decline until it was too late to salvage his party’s prospects at the polls.
Senator Chuck Schumer appeared on NBC News’ Meet the Press on Sunday morning, with Kristen Welker playing a clip of him addressing reporters on Feb. 13 last year–just months before a disastrous debate performance against Donald Trump saw the now-outgoing president withdraw from the race.
In the recording, Schumer was heard to say, “I talk to President Biden regularly, sometimes several times in a week, usually several times in a week. His mental acuity is great, it’s fine, it’s as good as it’s been over the years. All this right-wing propaganda that his mental acuity has declined is wrong.”
Having played the clip to the senator, Welker then asked Schumer, “What do you say to Americans who feel as though you and other top Democrats misled them about President Biden’s mental acuity?”
Schumer shot back, “Look, we didn’t. Let’s look at President Biden. He’s had an amazing record, the legislation we passed, the most significant group of legislation [sic] since Lyndon Johnson’s Great Society, putting in 235 judges, a record, and look, he’s a patriot. He’s a great guy.”
He then went on, “When he stepped down, he did it on his own because he thought it was better not only for the Democratic Party, but for America. We should all salute him, we should all salute him.”
Welker nevertheless appeared unwilling to let the crucial point go, again pressing Schumer by asking, “Do you feel, as we have this conversation today, that President Biden could serve another four years, had he stayed in the race and potentially won?”
Schumer responded, “Well I’m not gonna speculate. As I said, I think his record is a stellar one and he’ll go down in history as a really outstanding president.”
