Joe Biden told donors at a fundraiser at a private home in McLean, Virginia Tuesday evening that he “almost fell asleep on stage” during his debate debacle with President Trump last Thursday. Biden was introduced at the fundraiser by Rep. Don Beyer (D-VA), but only spoke for about six minutes according to the pool report.
Biden blamed ‘flying around the world’ in the weeks before the debate for his fatigue. The New York Times reported earlier Tuesday that during the week-long debate prep at Camp David, Biden was scheduled for a daily afternoon nap.
Biden’s comments were reported by pool reporter Andrew Feinberg who noted that Biden “spoke very softly” (no mention if Biden used a teleprompter.) (Excerpt):
POTUS admitted that he did not have a good debate, said he “wasn’t very smart” for “traveling around the world a couple times” before the debate.
“I decided to travel around the world a couple of times shortly before the debate. I didn’t listen to my staff and then I almost fell asleep on stage.”
POTUS also apologized by saying he was sorry for the performance but stressed that it was “critical” to win the election.
“It’s not an excuse but an explanation,” he said.
He spoke for about 6 minutes, then wrapped and pool was escorted out.
Biden traveled to Europe twice in the first part of June, to France and Italy respectively, with a flight to California from Italy for a high dollar fundraiser. Biden then spent the weekend at his Delaware beach home before heading to Camp Davis for six days of debate prep (NY Times excerpt):
“…In the 23 days leading up to the debate against former President Donald J. Trump, Mr. Biden jetted across the Atlantic Ocean twice for meetings with foreign leaders and then flew from Italy to California for a splashy fund-raiser, maintaining a grueling pace that exhausted even much younger aides. Mr. Biden was drained enough from the back-to-back trips to Europe that his team cut his planned debate preparation by two days so he could rest at his house in Rehoboth Beach, Del., before joining advisers at Camp David for rehearsals. The preparations, which took place over six days, never started before 11 a.m. and Mr. Biden was given time for an afternoon nap each day, according to a person familiar with the process.”
Even after a long beach weekend and a week at Camp David with naptime, Biden still couldn’t perform at the debate. The campaign initially blamed a cold for Biden’s shockingly bad performance.
Calls for Biden to drop out are starting to emerge from elected Democrats, with one publicly calling on Biden to leave the race while at least four others have privately called on Biden to drop out.
Biden’s campaign says he is not dropping out and will debate Trump again at the next one which is scheduled for September.
White House Press Secretary Karine Jean Pierre told reporters on Tuesday that Biden has not been diagnosed with any cognitive disorders.
