The private meeting with officials reportedly took place less than a week after the US president’s disastrous debate against Donald Trump
US President Joe Biden has told a group of Democratic governors that he underwent a medical checkup following his poor performance in last week’s election debate against Donald Trump, Politico has reported, citing anonymous sources.
During the CNN-hosted faceoff with his Republican rival last Thursday, the 81-year-old Biden appeared frail and seemingly lost his train of thought on multiple occasions. Most commentators, both Republican and Democrat, have concluded that Trump came out comfortably on top in the meeting, which was the first of two planned debates ahead of the November 5 presidential vote.
One survey has also indicated that 72% of registered voters do not believe that Biden has the “mental and cognitive health necessary to serve as president.” In the wake of Biden’s poor showing, multiple US media outlets have claimed there is growing pressure from within the Democratic Party and among major donors for him to drop out of the election race.
Politico reported on Wednesday that the US president had held an hour-long private meeting with more than 20 Democratic governors earlier in the day, during which he mentioned a recent medical checkup after being asked about his physical condition.
Politico quoted an unnamed person familiar with Biden’s schedule as clarifying that he was referring to a brief checkup by a White House physician in the days following the debate, which did not include any major tests. Biden is said to have told the governors that he was deemed to be in good health after the medical check.
During the meeting with governors, the Democratic hopeful also reportedly reiterated that he would not be pushed out of the race, insisting that he was “in it to win it.” Biden put his poor performance in the debate down to his failure to ease up with his schedule ahead of the faceoff with Trump, as quoted by Politico.
Earlier, his campaign had attributed his underwhelming showing to a cold.
Also on Wednesday, Bloomberg cited an anonymous “senior party official” as claiming that dozens of Democrats in the US Congress are considering a letter to demand that Biden suspend his reelection campaign. They are allegedly concerned that his weak candidacy could lead to a “Republican sweep of Washington and an unchecked Donald Trump presidency.”
In the wake of last week’s debate, multiple liberal-leaning media outlets have openly called on Biden to step aside.
