By Morgan Phillips, Capitol Hill reporter, and Emily Goodin, senior US political reporter, DailyMail.com
Updated: July 11, 2024 20:03, July 11, 2024 20:55
According to House Speaker Mike Johnson, concerns about Joe Biden’s fitness to serve are global.
He said world leaders he met with as part of the NATO summit had expressed concerns about the president’s cognitive abilities.
“You know, all of the NATO leaders are here in Congress,” Johnson told Fox News’ Laura Ingraham on Wednesday night. “These foreign leaders, prime ministers, heads of state have come to Congress and are letting us know privately that they are deeply concerned.”
Johnson’s comments came shortly after talks between British Prime Minister Keir Starmer and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, though he did not say which leaders had expressed concerns.
Meanwhile, NATO officials and diplomats around the world are waiting with bated breath to see what Biden will say at his post-NATO press conference on Thursday evening.
“It’s a very strange feeling listening to the US president in Europe. Rather than being excited to hear from the leader of the free world, you’re worried he’s going to go off script,” a senior European diplomat told Politico.
“You worry about whether he knows which way he’s going, whether he’s going to fall, whether he’s going to forget something, or whether he’s going to say ‘North Korea’ when he meant ‘South Korea.’ It’s just a strange experience.”
“Biden was not in good shape,” another Washington-based diplomat said at a NATO meeting this week.
Johnson called Biden’s cognitive decline “the biggest political cover-up.”
“The Democratic Party is in complete disarray. They don’t know what to do. They don’t have an alternative plan, but they know they’re in serious trouble,” Johnson continued. “As you say, this is the biggest political cover-up in the history of the United States and the most significant.”
Thursday night’s news conference is expected to be Biden’s most important since taking office as president, with the Biden campaign attempting damage control after last month’s debate.
Officially, 11 House Democrats and one Senate Democrat have called on Biden to resign, and many more are waiting to see how he performs in the debate before deciding whether to step down.
Biden avoided a nearly disastrous gaffe in his welcoming speech to NATO leaders on Tuesday.
When presenting the Presidential Medal of Freedom to NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg, the president read three-word instructions himself from a teleprompter, but was saved from complete embarrassment by applause from the audience.
“Ask your military aides,” Biden said as he prepared to present Stoltenberg with the nation’s highest civilian honor.
Biden quickly regained his composure and the crowd drowned out the gaffe with cheers.
“Soldiers please step forward,” he said, and without incident he presented the medal and placed it around Stoltenberg’s neck.
The president tried to reassure the public in a recent interview with ABC News’ George Stephanopoulos, in which Biden spoke in a raspy voice as he claimed his poor debate performance was simply down to a cold.
At one point during his interview with Stephanopoulos, Biden said he didn’t even remember if he watched the debate performance after it took place.
“No, I don’t think they did,” Biden said.
A strong performance at the NATO summit would breathe a sigh of relief among allies worried that a Trump victory would once again isolate the United States. A mistake would send their blood pressure soaring.
Trump has signaled that in a second term he would not defend NATO allies that don’t pay their full dues, which amount to 2 percent of each country’s GDP, and he has also questioned aid amounts for Ukraine.
All these prospects have NATO leaders worried.
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Biden noted that he has gotten more NATO member states to increase their contributions.
“In 2020, the year I was elected president, only nine NATO countries are spending 2 percent of their GDP on defense,” he said. “This year, 23 countries will be spending at least 2 percent.”
“And some countries will spend even more than that. And the remaining countries that haven’t yet reached that milestone will get there. This is remarkable progress. It demonstrates the breadth and depth of our efforts.”
Biden also announced that the United States and NATO allies would deploy dozens of air defense systems to Ukraine in the coming months, including at least four of the more powerful Patriot systems sought by Kyiv.
“Russia will not win,” the president said.
“Ukraine can and will stop President Putin,” Biden said.