Former President Joe Biden has finally commented on claims made in the book “Original Sin,” by CNN anchor Jake Tapper and Axios reporter and co-author Alex Thompson, that he was mentally and physically diminished during his time in the White House.
The former president was at an event in his home state of Delaware on Friday when a reporter questioned him about the claims in the book.
“There’s…been a lot of discussion recently about your mental and physical capabilities while you were in office,” the reporter said.
“You can see that I’m mentally incompetent and I can’t walk, and I can beat the hell out of both of them,” the former president said, which turned heads.
“Do you want to reply to any of those reports, and also to the fact that there are some Democrats who are now questioning whether you should have run for reelection in the first place?” the reporter said.
“Why didn’t they run against me then? Because I’d have beaten them,” Biden declared.
The reporter asked the former president if he had “any regrets?”
“No, I don’t have any regrets. Look, there’s a lot going on, and I think we’re in a really difficult moment—not only in American history but in world history. I think we’re in one of those inflection points in history where the decisions we make in the next little bit are going to determine what things look like for the next 20 years,” former President Biden said.
“I’ve been talking about that for a long time. And I’m very proud. I’d put my record as president against any president at all. You notice that 12 of the 10 leading presidential historians rated me pretty good up on that list—and the guy I ran against, I rated him last. So, we’ll see,” he said.
The event also marked the first comments he has made to a reporter after announcing that he has an aggressive form of prostate cancer.
“Well, the prognosis is good. And, you know, we’re working on everything. It’s moving along, so I feel good,” the former president said of his outlook before the reporter asked him if he had “decided on your treatment options?”
“Yeah, we have, and we’re underway. And everybody’s—all the folks—are very optimistic,” he said before the reporter confirmed with him again that he had started treatment, to which he responded, “Oh, yeah.”
The nation was stunned when a spokesman for Biden announced that he had an advanced and “aggressive” form of prostate cancer.
Biden and his family “are reviewing treatment options with his physicians,” the spokesperson said at the time.
“Last week, President Joe Biden was seen for a new finding of a prostate nodule after experiencing increasing urinary symptoms. On Friday, he was diagnosed with prostate cancer, characterized by a Gleason score of 9 (Grade Group 5) with metastasis to the bone. While this represents a more aggressive form of the disease, the cancer appears to be hormone-sensitive which allows for effective management,” said the statement.
Dr. Howie Forman, a professor of radiology and biomedical imaging, public health (including health policy), management, and economics at Yale University, shared a deeply concerning opinion on social media.
“It is inconceivable that this was not being followed before he left the Presidency. Gleason grade 9 would have had an elevated PSA level for some time before this diagnosis. And he must have had a PSA test numerous times before. This is odd. I wish him well and hope he has an opportunity for maximizing his quality of life,” Forman wrote on X.
Leave a Reply