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Watergate reporter Carl Bernstein claims Biden's staffers have witnessed up to 20 'marked incidence of cognitive decline and physical infirmity' in the ailing president in the last 18 months
Carl Bernstein claims Biden White House insiders have told him that the president's visibly ailing health at the first debate Thursday has been seen on numerous occasions in the past 18 months.
The torturous 90-minute debate saw the president frequently lose his train of thought, trail off mid-sentence and mix up topics, prompting a cacophony of calls from politicians and pundits for the 81-year-old to step down.
The performance has sparked an unprecedented panic in the party, leading many to wonder if Biden, 81, should drop out or even resign.
Bernstein, 80, is a longtime journalistic icon in Washington, having broken the Watergate scandal that took down Richard Nixon 50 years ago.
While he told Anderson Cooper Biden was 'at his absolute best' during his brief speech in response to the Supreme Court ruling on presidential immunity, his advisors and staffers who love and admire the president say 'in the last six months, particularly, there has been a marked incidents of cognitive decline and physical infirmity.'
Legendary journalist Carl Bernstein revealed Biden White House insiders have told him the president's visibly ailing health at the first debate Thursday has been seen on numerous occasions in the past 18 months. Pictured: Biden freezes on stage at a recent fundraiser with Barack Obama
In an interview Monday, Bernstein confessed to multiple sources telling him that Biden's looked very similar to the way he did Thursday night at least 15 to 20 times in the past year and a half.
'[My sources] are adamant that what we saw the other night—the Joe Biden we saw— is not a one-off,' he told Anderson Cooper.
Bernstein said that many have gone as far as ex-White House Chief of Staff Ron Klain - who took heat for his performance in preparing Biden for the debate from his family and advisors - with their concerns over the president's health.
'They have all gone to Ron Klain in the past year to say 'we have a problem' such as we saw the other night.'
He says that the president has often 'lost his train of thought' while speaking and been unable to pick it back up.
Bernstein also seemed to nod at recent incidents of Biden outright 'freezing' in public in recent weeks, which White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said were 'deep fakes'.
He cited a fundraiser where he started at his podium and then appeared to become stiff, 'almost like rigor mortis' at the Four Seasons in New York in June 2023.
'A chair had to be brought for him to do the latter part of the event,' Bernstein added.
Bernstein, 80, is a longtime journalistic icon in Washington, having broken the Watergate scandal that took down Richard Nixon 50 years ago
In an interview Monday, Bernstein confessed to multiple sources telling him that Biden's looked very similar to the way he did Thursday night - and at this Juneteenth celebration with Vice President Harris - at least 15 to 20 times in the past year and a half
The overall message they've said to Klain is 'we need to talk about this' but they've been shut down.
Biden remains able to hold his own on key issues like foreign policy, Bernstein's sources say.
'There is no question. I have heard for two years how sharp Joe Biden is in his national security meetings, on Ukraine, on the situation in Gaza... he has an absolute command of the facts.'
However, that's not who he is all the time, saying: 'We're clearly dealing with two sets of one person,' adding Biden 'has good days [and] bad days.'
Bernstein claims not only do 'an awful lot' of high level Democrats agree, some of them have already made statements backtracking on it in public, saying they still support the president.
'But this is a problem that's not going to go away, unless it's explicable. Does this mean doctors' reports? I mean, obviously it would be great if we could have real doctors' reports from both candidates. Well, that's not going to happen.'
Biden's health has been in question by many in the months and even years leading up to the debate, but talk has ratcheted up recently after the series of questionable freezing incidents in public.
DailyMail.com asked Jean-Pierre about recent videos of former President Barack Obama and Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni guiding him after events, and whether they had been asked to do so.
Biden remains able to hold his own on key issues like foreign policy, Bernstein's sources say, but adds that 'he has good days, he has bad days'
DailyMail.com asked Jean-Pierre about recent videos of former President Barack Obama and Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni (pictured) guiding him after events, and whether they had been asked to do so
'Let's not forget: President Obama, President Biden have a relationship. They are friends. They're like family. And I think that's what you saw,' she said, in reference to video after a $30 million fundraiser where Biden stood stationary for several seconds while the audience applauded at the end of the event before Obama grabbed him by the arm and led him off stage.
She also dismissed video of Italy's Meloni, who also grabbed Biden by the arm during an event at the G7 where the leaders viewed a parachute demonstration. Biden left the group briefly to greet a parachute jumper, only to be led back by Meloni for a photo-op.
'That was definitely a cheap fake,' she said.
It was a scuffle Jean-Pierre appeared ready to have having earlier blasted the videos as 'cheap fakes' when first asked about them at the top of her briefing Monday, her first within days.
Biden still has no public plans to drop out or resign from office, as he has continued campaigning since the debate.
During the debate, Trump was seen contorting his face in shock and derision at Biden's confused meandering and frequent gaffes in the debate, at one point telling millions of Americans watching at home: 'I really don't know what he [Biden] just said.
'He's not equipped to be president. You know it and I know it.'
ABC News is set to host the second debate on Tuesday, September 10, but it's hard to see how the hapless, weary Biden would be able to rise to the challenge - no matter how much his wife Jill continues to push, and lie, to him.
ABC News is set to host the second debate on Tuesday, September 10, but it's hard to see how the hapless, weary Biden would be able to rise to the challenge
Focus much of this weekend post-debate has been on the Biden family, who gathered at Camp David to discuss their patriarch's political future, while mega-donors and famous supporters plot their own courses of action.
The family has offered its unequivocal support to the president and even wondered how they can get further involved, with troubled son Hunter insisting his father fight back into the race.
However, many have started to play the blame game, citing Biden's advisors' poor debate prep to face Donald Trump and time is of the essence as Democrats panic at his dive in the polls post-Atlanta.