Jill Biden dismisses 'ridiculous' talk about Joe's mental fitness – New York Post
Thanks for contacting us. We've received your submission.
First lady Jill Biden has called concerns and questions about President Biden’s mental fitness “ridiculous” as speculation swirls about whether he will seek a second term in 2024 and who will succeed him if he does not.
In an interview with “CBS Sunday Morning” that is set to air this weekend, Jill Biden was pressed on a recent poll that shows registered voters split on the question of whether the president is “mentally fit.”
“Quite a few Americans have some questions about the president’s current mental fitness,” CBS correspondent Rita Braver suggested to the first lady.
“I think that’s ridiculous,” Jill Biden responded in a portion of the interview released Thursday.
The Politico/Morning Consult survey highlighted in the interview was conducted last month and found that only 46 percent of respondents agreed with the statement “Joe Biden is mentally fit,” while 48 percent disagreed.
The survey came out just days before the president’s annual physical exam, following which Biden’s physician determined that the president is “fit to successfully execute the duties of the Presidency.”
Republican lawmakers have demanded Biden take a cognitive test after a series of verbal stumbles, while White House press secretary Jen Psaki has been quizzed about a persistent presidential cough, which she has blamed on allergies.
Biden is the oldest person to ever hold the office of president, and will be 81 years old on Election Day 2024. While the White House has insisted Biden plans to run for re-election, there has been constant conversation about who will be the Democratic Party’s standard-bearer if he is forced to step aside.
Elsewhere in the interview, Jill Biden described the job of first lady as “a little harder than I imagined.”
First Lady Jill Biden opens up this Sunday about her life, her efforts to support her husband and looks back at their first year in office, in a rare interview at Camp David, the Presidential retreat in rural Maryland pic.twitter.com/lC7gpUSqjZ
“It’s not like a job that you do; it’s a lifestyle that you live, and it’s not something you leave at 5:00 or at 3:00, and it’s 24 hours a day,” she said.
In an additional clip released Friday, the first lady called her husband “an eternal optimist.”
“He keeps working at it. He’s an eternal optimist, and he keeps working, Rita, like almost 24 hours a day, at creating relationships with Republicans as well as Democrats, to push his agenda forward. It’s that important,” she said, according to the Daily Mail.
President Biden’s first year in office has been marred by division as Republicans and Democrats clash over coronavirus regulations, spending legislation and supply chain woes.
“I don’t care if it’s a red state or a blue state,” Jill Biden said. “I think, you know, Joe is the president for all Americans.”
The full interview — which was filmed at the presidential retreat at Camp David — will air on Sunday.
Share Selection
