White House AGAIN dodges questions about Biden being 'juiced' for debate
Joe Biden and Jill Biden prepare to greet President William Samoei Ruto of Kenya, Mrs. Rachel Ruto and their daughters at the North Portico of the White House, Thursday, May 23, 2024, before a State Dinner. (Official White House photo by Cameron Smith)
The White House is not "dignifying" questions about whether Joe Biden will be juiced on uppers for Thursday night's debate.
That means they're not responding.
But by the end of the evening, most observers likely will have an opinion.
Was he the lethargic, slow, even inattentive octogenarian often seen, or the red-eyed, shouting, berating attacker seen at other times.
That dichotomy earlier prompted at least one forensic psychiatrist, Carole Lieberman, to suspect amphetamines, uppers.
"If you look at how Joe Biden usually is — slow and stumbling — compared to how he was during the State of the Union — fiery and angry — these are signs that are typical for someone taking Adderall or any amphetamine," she explained.
Biden similarly was aggressive, hot, shouting, and demanding, in an address in Philadelphia last year.
But other times he's seen wandering around, trying to find a way off a stage. Barack Obama recently had to guide him to an exit. At times he's been seen standing still, literally without a movement, on stage.
The Washington Examiner documented on Thursday that the White House "declined" to answer questions on the issue.
"The Trump campaign has attempted to lower expectations for Biden as he prepared for the debate in Delaware and at Camp David over the past week, alleging that Biden will take illicit substances to explain why he might do well. The Biden campaign has accused Trump and his allies of 'resorting to desperate, obviously false lies' with the attack, but White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said she would not 'dignify that with an answer' as she fielded questions from reporters aboard Air Force One on Thursday afternoon en route to Georgia," the report said.
But she did confirm Biden "likes to fight," and she cited Biden's explosive temperament exhibited during that State of the Union, which drew so much attention because of hyperspeed of speech, where he unleashed strings of words.
Fox News, which like the Washington Examiner made the issue a top headline Thursday, characterized the White House response as having "dodged" the question.
"The Biden campaign twice avoided a direct answer to the question," the report said.
The Trump campaign, in contrast, was blunt when asked if Trump planned to take performance-enhancers for the debate.
"Absolutely not," Trump campaign national press secretary Karolina Leavitt told Fox News Digital.
She added, "President Trump has naturally elite stamina and doesn't need performance enhancing drugs, unlike Joe Biden, who many are saying will be drugged up for the debate like he was at the State of the Union. President Trump has repeatedly asked Joe Biden to participate in drug testing. What does Team Biden have to hide?"
There have been several calls for Biden to document his mental acuity, and not all have been from Republicans.
It was special counsel Robert Hur who raised further concerns about Biden's mental acuity in a report detailing Biden's handling of classified documents after his time as vice president in the Obama administration.
The report found Biden likely broke the law, but recommended against charges because of his "diminished" capabilities.
He found, "It would be difficult to convince a jury that they should convict him – by then a former president well into his eighties – of a serious felony that requires a mental state of willfulness."
Just lately, it appeared Biden needed to be led off stage by Barack Obama at a California fundraiser, and at a meeting of world leaders Biden had to be led back to the group for a photo op.
In fact, the White House has launched a new talking point about those many videos showing Biden freezing up, stumbling, or worse. The Democrats are calling those unaltered videos "cheap fakes."
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