A former White House doctor and 83 other U.S. House Republicans have expressed “grave concerns” about President Joe Biden’s cognitive abilities, saying a prosecutor’s report leaves him too old to stand trial. He said he would need to undergo a test to prove his fitness to serve as president.
Texas Republican Rep. Ronnie Jackson, who served as the White House physician under then-Presidents Donald Trump and Barack Obama, wrote a letter to Biden on Thursday asking the commander-in-chief to undergo a cognitive function test. wrote.
“If you are mentally impaired to the point that you cannot stand trial, as the Department of Justice claims, then your mental condition does not interfere with your role as leader of the free world,” Jackson wrote in the letter. We are concerned that they are not at a competent level to carry out their duties.” It was co-signed by 83 other Republicans. He added that if Biden is unwilling or unable to take a cognitive test, his Cabinet should begin the process of removing him from office under the 25th Amendment.
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Last week’s report by U.S. Department of Justice Special Counsel Robert Hur looked into an investigation into Biden’s mishandling of classified documents he kept after leaving office as vice president in 2017. The special counsel said he found evidence that Biden jeopardized national security, but he added: The president should not face criminal charges. One reason for this is that juries are reluctant to convict a man in his 80s, who in interviews appears to be a “well-meaning old man with a poor memory.”
Mr. Biden, 81, the oldest president in U.S. history, called a press conference after the release of Mr. Heo’s report to defend his cognitive abilities. “My memory is fine,” he insisted. Minutes later, he referred to Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi as Mexico’s leader. The gaffe came the same week he claimed to have had conversations with two world leaders who died years ago.
“Over the past three years, your mental decline and forgetfulness have become even more pronounced,” Jackson and other senators wrote in a letter to Biden. “When we make public appearances here at home or on the world stage, we often find people with a limp, a stumbling walk, slurred speech, forgetting names, losing their train of thought, being confused or falling asleep. It often appears that there are.”
White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre told reporters on Monday that Biden’s next annual health exam will not include a cognitive test. Her staff dismissed media inquiries about Jackson’s request for testing, responding with an image that compared Jackson to a cartoon doctor known for being a charlatan.