House Democrat Admits It’s ‘Obvious Now’ Biden Was ‘Not in a Condition to Run’ For Re-Election

AP Photo/Gerald Herbert

Rep. Ro Khanna (D-CA) urged his colleagues to “be honest with people about our party’s mistake” on Wednesday after admitting it was “obvious now” that former President Joe Biden was “not in a condition to run” for re-election.

“To rebuild trust, Democrats must be honest. In light of the facts that have come out, Joe Biden should not have run for reelection, and we should have had an open primary,” said Khanna in response to CNN host Jake Tapper’s new book documenting Biden’s declining health during the 2024 election:

In my limited public interactions with the President, he appeared coherent. It is obvious now to me, based on @jaketapper and others reporting, that he was not in a condition to run for reelection, and he should have made the decision not to. We must be honest with people about our party’s mistake.

On Wednesday, Tapper also called out Democrats for conducting a “smear campaign” against two “heroic” Wall Street Journal reporters who documented Biden’s decline in 2024, calling the attacks “disgraceful.”

In his book Original Sin: President Biden’s Decline, Its Cover-Up, and His Disastrous Choice to Run Again, Tapper revealed that Biden staffers had discussed putting the former president in a wheelchair as his health continued to decline. The book also documents the decline of Biden’s cognitive acuity, recalling one incident where Biden failed to recognize ally and Hollywood actor George Clooney.