Former Top Admin Figure Blows Off Concerns About Biden Mental Decline: ‘What Happened, Happened’

Former Deputy Secretary of State Wendy Sherman dismissed renewed concerns over the mental and physical decline of President Joe Biden while he was in office, briefly denying any specific knowledge Saturday before adding that, anyway, everyone should just move on to worrying about President Donald Trump instead.

Sherman, a top foreign policy figure who left the Biden administration during the investigation by Special Counsel Robert Hur, herself seemed very, very ready to move on from being asked about it.

The former diplomat, also a former MSNBC contributor, appeared on The Amanpour Hour on CNN Saturday to discuss several topics, including Israel and Gaza. During that interview, host Christiane Amanpour also briefly brought up the ongoing revelations about the extent of former President Biden’s declining health while in office, and the reported efforts to cover it up.

It was after Sherman answered Amanpour’s question about regrets on Israel and Gaza policy that she brought up Biden’s mental faculties to the diplomat and former vice chair of The Albright Group.

Amanpour mentioned the timing of October 7th and the war in relation to new revelations about Biden’s “cognitive decline” and “efforts by his inner circle to insulate him from scrutiny,” asking: “Were you concerned that this was happening and that potentially, you know, things were not being managed from the top?”

Like many officials now finally being asked these questions by the previously reluctant press, Sherman mostly pleaded ignorance, saying that she wasn’t “in the inner circle in the White House” and that she can’t “speak to some of what has been written” on the story.

“My own experience was a positive one,” Sherman said. “I didn’t stay until the end of the administration, but up until the time that I left in 2023, I did not see any impairment when it came to the tough decisions that had to be made.”

That denial on the record, Sherman then went on to attack the story as inconsequential and advised the American people to just move on.

“You know, I think we all have to look forward,” she said. “What happened, happened.”

She then pointed an accusing finger at the electorate for getting it wrong and voting for Donald Trump.

“The people of the United States clearly wanted a change. They certainly have gotten a profound change,” she said contemptuously. “One that I think will leave a line of destruction in rebuilding our democracy into the future.”

Having spelled out her “how dare you” using a diplomat’s alphabet, she concluded by again saying everyone should just move on, almost but not quite in those very words — this time seeming to scold the press for the crime of finally doing its job..

“I think we all have to be focused on where we are now, what President Trump is doing to our democracy, she said.

When Sherman was working with President Biden on, as she put it, the “tough decisions” being made on global security matters, Hur was at the same time conducting his investigation on the classified documents scandal.

She left in July, the now-infamous interview which somehow was never leaked until now was in October. Either President Biden declined at a preposterous rate in the intervening 8 or so weeks, or … well.

But her bottom line implication was clear: asking about Biden’s mental decline is ruining democracy, so just stop it already and do Trump stuff, you jerks!

Below is the transcript from Sherman’s comments. Like the Hur report, they don’t have as much impact typed out as they do when you hear them aloud above.

SHERMAN: We have led the Palestinians in Gaza to a point of starvation. We have taken away any possibility right now — and I mean this not just with the United States, but the world has really turned away from providing the help and creating a pathway of dignity.

AMANPOUR: Given that this war and the attack, the savagery of October 7th and the subsequent 19-month war, coincided with the last two years of the Biden presidency and the reports now that are being alleged of — as you know, you’re probably aware — of his cognitive decline and of efforts by his inner circle to insulate him from scrutiny. Based on your experience working for President Biden. Were you concerned that this was happening and that potentially, you know, things were not being managed from the top?

SHERMAN: So I wasn’t in the inner circle in the White House. So I can’t speak to some of what has been written. My own experience was a positive one. I didn’t stay until the end of the administration, but up until the time that I left in 2023, I did not see any impairment when it came to the tough decisions that had to be made.

You know, I think we all have to look forward. What happened, happened.

The people of the United States clearly wanted a change. They certainly have gotten a profound change. One that I think will leave a line of destruction in rebuilding our democracy into the future, And I think we all have to be focused on where we are now, what President Trump is doing to our democracy. And make sure we do everything we can to save it, and to rebuild it.

Watch the clip above via CNN.

This is an opinion piece. The views expressed in this article are those of just the author.