James Clyburn Swears to Jake Tapper Biden Could Have Been President ‘All the Way Through January 2029’
Rep. James Clyburn (D-SC) delivered the stunning opinion that he “still” believes former President Joe Biden was fit to serve another four-year term.
In a shocking exchange with CNN’s Jake Tapper on Sunday, Clyburn defended Biden’s cognitive function as he left office — a topic that has been the subject of much discussion ahead of the publication of Original Sin, a book which has delivered some blockbuster revelations on Biden’s decline.
“I talked to him on the telephone very often,” Clyburn said. “And I never saw anything that I thought was outside of the ordinary. I watch my dad reach the the age of 80. I saw him slow down, he couldn’t do the same things he did at 50 or 60. But it didn’t bother his mental capacity at all! And then my father died from prostate cancer. So I never saw anything I thought was unusual. Did he talk as swiftly as he used to talk? No, he didn’t. Did he walk as swiftly? No he didn’t! But that is to be expected.”
Tapper — the co-author of Original Sin whose reporting on Biden’s decline this week has been the talk of Washington — pushed back on the idea that the former president was still up to the job of being president.
“With all due respect, sir, having interviewed you quite often, I don’t think there’s any comparison between how sharp you are and your ability to talk, and answer questions, and get dates right, et cetera, and what we’ve seen from President Biden,” Tapper said, He added, “Do you think that Joe Biden really would have been able to perform as president all the way through January 2029?”
Clyburn — stating a position few, if any, in the Democratic party have been willing to articulate this past week — reiterated his belief that Biden was fit to be commander in chief until age 86.
“Yes, I thought that back then,” Clyburn said. “I still think that.”
“The debate didn’t make you concerned about whether or not he could do the job?” Tapper asked, following up.
“Absolutely it did,” said Clyburn, 84. But he added that he did not see signs of a “prolonged condition.”
“Yes, I was concerned. Now the question is … is this a condition? Or is this an incident? I have had incidents when I was looking for my glasses and had them on. So you have these kinds of incidents … And then remember, a lot of us were a bit concerned about his schedule in the run up to the debate. He took two overseas trips, came back, and started preparing for that debate. I called it at the time preparation overload, because they were cramming into a four or five day period the preparation for the debate after taking two overseas trips. Which I thought was taxing in and of itself. And so these kinds of concerns are out there. But none of us thought that there was anything here that created any suspicions of any prolonged condition.”
Watch above, via CNN.
