Biden Spox Pushes Back When CNN Anchor Asks About Risk Biden ‘Stumbles’ During State of the Union Address

Principal Deputy White House Press Secretary Olivia Dalton pushed back when CNN anchor Kasie Hunt asked about President Joe Biden’s age and the risk he might “stumble” during the State of the Union address.

President Biden is set to give his 2024 State of the Union address Thursday night, where he is expected to set the table for a stepped-up campaign and lay out the stakes for the election as he seeks to assuage voter doubts about his energy and accomplishments.

On Thursday morning’s edition of CNN This Morning, Hunt interviewed Dalton about the speech and spent a chunk of time on the age and gaffe coverage that has dogged the campaign. Dalton pushed back, dismissing the attention to verbal stumbles as a “distraction du jour”:

KASIE HUNT: Audiences he’ll be able to speak to. Between now in November, we’ll have the Democratic convention as well. But this is a significant moment in the reelection campaign. Voters tell us they’re concerned that he’s too old to do the job. What can he do tonight to convince them otherwise?

OLIVIA DALTON: Well, I thought the he he said it best when he told Seth Meyers last week that it’s not the age of the person, it’s the age of the ideas.

And look what Republicans decided to focus on tonight. Their rebuttal is going to be delivered by someone who is responsible for creating the turmoil we saw in Alabama. Repealing Roe, overturning Roe, a right that existed for women in this country for 50 years, taking us back 50 years so that our daughters have fewer rights and our mothers did.

That is what’s at stake here. Antiquated ideas versus Joe Biden’s vision for a future where we protect our most fundamental and sacred rights and freedoms in this country, where we protect democracy and our most fundamental ideals as a country.

And we continue to keep our foot on the gas on the economic progress we’ve made for made for real working people. Not the wealthiest, not the special interests, in this country.

KASIE HUNT: How big of a risk is it if he were to stumble tonight?

OLIVIA DALTON: Well, look, I think, you know, everybody is–. There’s always in these moments, a desire to focus on the distractions du jour.

The president is focused on one thing, and that’s communicating clearly his vision for the country to the American people. He’ll have one of the largest audiences tonight that he will all year.

And I want to just note that we are also doing some new things to make sure that we’re meeting people where they are. This will be the first state of the union that we’re streaming on Instagram to make sure that we’re reaching young people where they are.

It’ll be the first time that on whitehouse.gov, you can go and you can actually interact with tonight’s live stream.

So we’re hoping that tonight will be a night where people are really able to tune in and focus on the president’s message.

Watch above via CNN This Morning.