Medical experts have stepped up calls for President Biden to undergo a mental competency test after a sweeping report Thursday from special counsel Robert Hur revealed the 81-year-old can’t remember basic facts about his own life and career.
Hur’s report, released Thursday, deemed Biden too senile to be prosecuted for mishandling classified documents and said the commander-in-chief “doesn’t remember when he was vice president” and “doesn’t remember, even in years, when his son Beau died.” during two days of interviews in October.
“Something that is not right, and even if it is small, it must be explained to the public,” said Dr. Stuart Fischer, a primary care physician at a nursing home in the Bronx, told The Post.
“The horse is out of the barn. Not only [Biden] has flaws to some degree, but he has delayed producing objective evidence,” the internal medicine expert added, arguing that “no one is buying” the president’s defense of his memory.
Despite being the oldest president in US history, Biden has refused to take a mental acuity test despite repeated calls to do so from his critics – as well as consistent polling that shows a majority of Americans share those concerns.
The results of Biden’s most recent physical exam, released by the White House in February of last year, described the chief executive as “fit to successfully perform the duties of President,” but made no mention of cognitive tests or assessments on him. mental fitness.
On Friday, White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre claimed to reporters that she had spoken with White House physician Kevin O’Connor at the time and that he had told her that “because of the actions of the president every day, what he deals with – with leaders the world, the domestic issues that he has to deal with — that shows that the president is very active and understands what’s going on and [O’Connor] doesn’t believe such a test is warranted because, well, that’s who he is as the president of the United States and all that he has to deal with.
“But then again, I’m not a medical doctor,” added the press secretary.
President Biden responded to the special counsel’s report on his handling of classified documents and addressed concerns about his memory. Getty Images
However, according to Fischer, Biden has “signs of symptoms” that may indicate he is suffering from “an infectious disease or fatigue,” although the doctor insists that he is not Biden’s doctor and that his statement does not constitute a diagnosis.
“I don’t know how this man can have anything more than a modest schedule,” added the doctor, “because the more he pushes himself, the harder it is for an 81-year-old body to respond.”
Rep. Ronny Jackson (R-Texas), a physician to both former Presidents Barack Obama and Donald Trump and a member of the White House Medical Unit under President George W. Bush, told The Post that if Biden clinches the Democratic presidential nomination, he should be “100 %” have to submit to a mental competency test before the general election.
“He doesn’t need a [cognitive] screening test,” said Jackson. “He needs a battery of real cognitive tests, done objectively, put on paper, and briefed to the American people by his doctor.”
Biden lashed out at reporters and claimed his memory was “good”. Samuel Corum/UPI/Shutterstock
“I did not make a diagnosis. And I’m not saying the man has Alzheimer’s or multi-infarct dementia or Parkinson’s or anything else,” he explained. “This man has cognitive problems related to his age: He shuffles when he walks, he slurs his speech, he forgets where he is, what he’s doing, he doesn’t remember names, he doesn’t remember dates — that’s not a person. who should control the nuclear code in this country and control our destiny abroad.”
“I’ve been saying since he became Joe Biden’s candidate: This man doesn’t have the cognitive ability or the ability to be the head of our country,” Jackson added, further illustrating the president’s recent confusion of European leaders with their dead predecessors. as “very worrying.”
Hur’s report has also put Democrats in the unenviable position of having to defend Biden’s ability to hold office based on the decision not to impeach him while ignoring the reason for it, according to Jackson, which is that “he is too mentally and cognitively incompetent to stand trial.”
Joe Biden classified documents investigation report
- Special counsel Robert Hur ruled that President Biden “willfully retained and disclosed classified material” after leaving office as vice president in 2016.
- Records kept by Biden include documents on military and foreign policy in Afghanistan as well as other national security and foreign policy issues.
- Biden kept some classified documents to help write his memoirs. According to the report, Biden told a ghostwriter in a 2017 conversation that he “just found all the classified stuff downstairs.”
- Despite those findings, Hur’s 388-page report recommended that the president not face charges.
- The special counsel noted that Biden would likely present himself to jurors as a “sympathetic, well-intentioned old man with a failing memory” if he stood trial.
“If you are too incompetent and too cognitively impaired because of your age to defend yourself against these charges – if he is charged – then positively you should not be commander-in-chief,” added the MP.
Renowned neurosurgeon Dr. Ben Carson, the former secretary of housing and urban development under Trump, also expressed concern about Biden’s health to The Post.
“As someone who knows a thing or two about the human brain, Joe Biden’s mental decline has been evident for several years,” Carson said. “Yesterday’s report, last night’s press conference, and the current state of the union proves that. Our southern border is under siege, there are two major global conflicts going on, and our judicial system has become a presidential campaign weapon. Americans should be asking, who runs the country?”
Carson previously stated he believed Biden had signs of dementia, given the president’s aggressive demeanor, apparent confusion and issues with his speech.
Dr. Arthur Oliva, a psychiatry resident at the University of Louisville, wrote on X that, as a Democrat, he was “concerned” about the Hur report and argued that VP Kamala Harris would be the best choice to replace Biden on the Democratic ticket.
Biden pauses after speaking in the Diplomatic Reception Room of the White House on Thursday, Feb. 8, 2024, in Washington. AP
“This is the most disturbing news I have heard about Biden’s memory. Making a fuss during a speech or stumbling over words is one thing, but his memory is legitimately bad,” Oliva wrote. “Usually people’s short-term memory goes away first, but having trouble remembering when he was VP is bad.”
Biden has often railed, publicly and privately, about the issue of his age, repeating that Americans should “watch him” when deciding whether he is mentally fit for office.
On Thursday night, Biden made a hastily scheduled appearance at the White House to respond to Hur’s report, lashing out at the assembled press as he tried to defend his mental state.
“My memory is fine,” Biden snapped at one reporter, telling another: “My memory is so bad, I let you talk.”
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“I mean well, and I’m an old man and I know what I’m doing,” the president added, referencing a line in the special counsel’s report.
The White House has argued that Hur’s claims about Biden’s memory are “inaccurate,” and that the commander-in-chief has been preoccupied with the US response to the Oct. 7 Hamas attack on Israel, which occurred a day before the president first convened. down with the special counsel interviewer.
Concerns about Biden’s age are not limited to his memory.
The president has had several falls while in office, including falling on stage at the Air Force Academy’s commencement exercises in Colorado and falling off his bicycle while on vacation in Delaware.
Reports also indicate Biden has chosen to take small steps when boarding or leaving Air Force One to avoid possible slips, and has chosen to wear shoes for added comfort in recent months.
Biden’s potential 2024 opponents, Donald Trump, 77, and Nikki Haley, 52, have long called for politicians to take mental competency tests, and Hur’s report prompted them to restate those demands.
“Biden is not going to be any sharper in November,” senior Trump adviser Jason Miller told The Post, while Haley released a video showing South Carolinians agreeing with her push for mental competency tests for politicians over 75.
Another challenger to Biden 2024, Rep. Dean Phillips (D-Minn.), whose primary campaign focused on Biden’s mental decline, said Thursday called it “another sad day for America and especially for President Biden and his family.”
“Already facing the lowest approval ratings in modern history and losing in every key battleground state, this Report has handed the 2024 election to Donald Trump if Joe Biden is the Democratic nominee,” Phillips said in a statement to The Post, “and I invite fellow Democrats to face the truth.”
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Source: thtrangdai.edu.vn/en/
