CNN’s Kasie Hunt Grills Chuck Schumer on Biden’s Mental State: ‘Did You Really Not Have Any Idea?’

CNN’s Kasie Hunt grilled Sen. Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) on how much he knew about Joe Biden’s mental state before the former president abandoned his reelection bid in July.

Biden’s cognitive struggles were apparent on the campaign trail last year, culminating in a disastrous debate performance against Donald Trump in June. A new book by CNN’s Jake Tapper and Axios’s Alex Thompson details the extent to which Biden’s top aides would go to conceal his deficiencies.

On Tuesday’s edition of The Arena, Hunt questioned Schumer about the reporting, but the Democratic leader had no interest in answering:

HUNT: You sat next to Biden in the Oval Office, February 27, 2024, just a handful of months before the president took that debate stage. And it was later reported that you and other Democratic leaders were talking before the debate about having a plan. You and Hakeem Jeffries, Nancy Pelosi, Barack Obama. I understand you later denied that that ever happened. But I am curious. I’m interested to know whether the man that you saw sitting there on that couch on that day, you were in there, you saw him up close and personal. Did you really not have any idea that he was not fit to serve a second term?

SCHUMER: Kasie, we’re looking forward. We have the largest Medicaid cut in front of us. We have the whole federal government–

HUNT: Right, but you’re facing all of this because you lost a presidential election. And is that not Joe Biden’s responsibility for deciding to run again?

SCHUMER: We’re looking forward.

HUNT: That’s it?

SCHUMER: That’s it.

In the infamous debate back in June, Biden short-circuited repeatedly and famously announced, “We finally beat Medicare.” After weeks of pressure from Democratic donors, Biden abandoned his reelection bid and threw his support behind then-Vice President Kamala Harris, whose abbreviated campaign came up short against Trump.

Watch above via CNN.