In an explosive exposé, the Wall Street Journal has revealed how the mental decline of President Joe Biden was pronounced from the start of his term. However, cabinet members and other Democrats lied to the public about his declining levels of acuity and engagement. That effort succeeded largely with the help of an alliance with the media, which showed little interest in whether the President was actually running the government.
After President Joe Biden’s disastrous debate performance, the solid wall of media and staff shielding his declining mental state collapsed. Even after Special Counsel Robert Hur declined criminal charges against Biden due to his diminished state, Democratic pundits and the press covered for him, claiming that he was sharp and effective. With the debate, the public was able to see what many in the media and the White House had been hiding for years.
After interviewing roughly 50 insiders, the Journal found evidence of a knowing effort to hide Biden’s mental state. For many, Biden’s refusal to leave his home for much of the 2020 campaign was evidence of the insecurity of staff about his ability to engage with reporters. It only got worse during the term as staff virtually tackled anyone trying to ask him a question. Biden was routinely shuffled off stage after reading briefly from a teleprompter.
Behind the scenes, cabinet members reportedly stopped asking for meetings with Biden after staff conveyed that such requests were not welcomed. He held far fewer cabinet meetings and was often considered “down” for any discussions. That included a period during the calamity of the Afghan withdrawal.
One official is quoted as admitting on one occasion in 2021 that Biden “has good days and bad days, and today was a bad day so we’re going to address this tomorrow.” That was just after he was elected.
Yet, Biden was kept within the protective cocoon of media that did not press the issue and was infamous for ignoring scandals while asking Biden about his choice of ice cream on a given day.
Now, some media outlets are re-positioning on the issue as they prepare to resume hard questioning and investigations in the new Trump Administration . . . after a four-year hiatus.
Suddenly, everyone is shocked to learn that Biden was mentally diminished and blaming nameless staff for misleading them.
One exception this week was Chris Cillizza, who served as CNN’s editor-at-large before leaving the network in 2022. On YouTube, Cillizza stated, “As a reporter, I have a confession to make” and admitted “I should have pushed harder earlier for more information about Joe Biden’s mental and physical well-being and any signs of decline.”
Now, everyone likes a redemptive sinner and I give Cillizza credit for admitting his own failure to pursue the story despite many critics objecting for years over the lack of such inquiries.
However, Cillizza only confessed to failing to pursue the story due to a fear of being accused of “age shaming” Biden. The suggestion is that identity politics chilled journalism, not the overwhelming media support for the President and countervailing opposition to Trump.
The “age shaming” excuse is difficult to square with the failure to pursue an array of other scandals during the term from influence peddling to policy debacles.
Nevertheless, Cillizza was remarkably frank that he was only able to push on the story after leaving CNN:
“I didn’t really push on it, if I’m being honest. Now, once I left CNN and once it became a little bit more clear to me about Biden’s age, I think I did write pretty regularly and talk pretty regularly about how I wasn’t sure that this guy was up to it. And then obviously, after the June 27 debate, everybody, including me, was writing and talking about it.”
Putting Cillizza’s statement aside, there is a notable effort by some in the media to retroactively resume journalism after years of docile coverage on issues such as Biden’s incapacity.
The belated interest in the story reflects not only the limits of modern journalism but the limits of the 25th Amendment. From the outset, there was concern over Biden’s acuity and stamina within the White House. It was hidden from the public. His cabinet members like DHS Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas, Secretary of Commerce Gina Raimondo, and others quashed claims of any diminishment with first-hand testimonials about how sharp and impressive the President was in meetings. Vice President Kamala Harris echoed those claims.
The Vice President and the cabinet are essential to the removal process under the 25th Amendment. Section 4 allows the removal of a president. One option is what I have called the “mutiny option.” It requires a vice president and a majority of the Cabinet to declare that the president is “unable to discharge the powers and duties of his office,” and notify Congress that the vice president intends to take over. If Vice President Kamala Harris could get eight Cabinet officers to go along with a letter to Congress, her status as the “Acting President” would likely be short-lived. Joe Biden would only have to declare to Congress that “no inability exists.” Biden would then resume his powers. That would then trigger a congressional fight.
In reality, the Biden term shows how they can often be part of the cover-up.
The 25th Amendment also does not define incapacity and having “good days and bad days” is unlikely to suffice. As I previously discussed, the issue of “disability” of a president was briefly raised in the Constitutional Convention in 1787. It was a delegate from Biden’s home state of Delaware who asked how they would respond to a disability, “and who is to be the judge of it?” John Dickinson’s question was left unanswered in the final version of the Constitution.
What followed were persistent controversies over succession. This issue came to a head after President Dwight D. Eisenhower suffered a stroke. After the assassination of President John F. Kennedy, Congress finally addressed the issue in the 25th Amendment. The amendment addresses the orderly succession of power as well as temporary disabilities when presidents must undergo medical treatment or surgeries.
This process is even more unlikely to occur when the media has formed a protective line around a president.
The problem was never “age shaming,” it was a shameless effort to shield this president from tough questions and public exposure.
Jonathan Turley is the Shapiro Professor of Public Interest Law at George Washington University. He is the author of “The Indispensable Right: Free Speech in an Age of Rage.”
This is not a “in the rear view mirror” observation. This man is STILL president of the United States. He–and his handlers–are STILL in possession of the nuclear codes for another month. Whatever could go wrong? A lot.
Here is the WSJ article:
How the White House Functioned With a Diminished Biden in Charge
Wall Street Journal
Sorry, but ‘explosive’? Some of us have suspected since Obama’s second term precisely where the dems were headed. They have become the most corrupt American party in history, they are globalist tyrants. Everything that has transpired since Trump was elected the first time has been malfeasance, and not a single truth has been spoken by the modern left since that time. What they very nearly did to our country and indeed, the globe is unforgivable and will *never* be forgotten; covid alone would have been enough justification, but they went oh so much further than that.
It’s much, much too little too late on the part of anyone who was or is complicit. There’s no walking any of this back. It is not a funny ‘oopsie’ you giggle over and forget. No.
But how many prog/left tools still voted for democrats on Nov 5? Proving their evil core does not stop them, hit them in the wallet, that’s all they understand.
I can’t really blame Biden for his own mental decline. I blame the democratic party leadership, which consists of Obama and Clinton. Democrats have become not much more than a criminal organization. The scandal of hiding Biden’s mental decline was orchestrated entirely by them. They were also the architects of the Clinton charity/corruption network, the bathroom server, cross-file hurricane, the Russian hoax, the J6 hoax, the coordination of state and federal lawfare, and the Biden family laptop/corruption scandal. Hiding Biden’s mental decline was merely one of many fraudulent acts committed by this group, with Obama as its ringleader.
It wasn’t a bug, it was a feature. Unfortunately, the puppeteers were as incompetent as the puppet.
As if we need further proof that America dodged a bullet by failing to elect Kamala: She couldn’t even influence *half* of the cabinet members to join her in a statement of incapacity.
We all know how much she craved power and the presidency, but she couldn’t even manage to broker a back-room deal to publicly declare something everyone already knew to be true.
“…oh you know the thing!” Without a ‘free & honest’ media as envisioned by our Founding Fathers, democracy cannot and will not survive. One has to ‘hate’ Donald Trump so much, that media bias and corruption is acceptable!
Biden’s age (82) is a red herring.
First rule of debates: never let your opponent frame the argument
The correct argument has always been his cognitive impairment as early as his 70s. Many notables alive today some older than Biden have no signs of cognitive impairment when they speak in public, e.g. Pope Francis (88), Martin Scorsese (82), Jane Fonda (86), Rupert Murdoch (93), etc. Queen Elizabeth II died at age 96 in 2022 and she was giving interviews when she hosted a reception for NATO leaders in December 2019, age 93.
That Biden’s handlers divided Americans to the point where we now find ourselves, and have expressed no regret, is unforgivable. Forgiveness is given when the offending parties admit blame, show contrition, and seek forgiveness. Knowing that Democrats have shown no inclination of the aforementioned, coupled with what they have done to America on multiple levels, they should be dealt in the most harshest ways.
I recently saw a video on Twitter/X where a family showed their mother crying alone in a room during COVID lockdowns in a nursing home. Her mother died alone as her family watched from outside the building through a window. Never forget it. Democrats did this, all to promote their talking points including lying about Biden’s cognitive impairment.
If only there was a 12-Step program for Leftists.
JAFO, being a Leftist is the antithesis of a 12-Step program. It would be impossible for them to get passed the first 5 words of Step 1.
1. We admitted we were powerless…
Maybe have them start with the Possum Lodge Oath and Man’s Prayer?
Turley– “In an explosive exposé, the Wall Street Journal has revealed how the mental decline of President Joe Biden was pronounced from the start of his term”
—
I am surprised this is a surprise to anyone.
It is only a surprise to those in the left wing nut bubble.
Remember during his first run for president Biden was tucked away in a basement and allowed out for only snippets of public exposure in front of a friendly and complicit media.
Everyone knew. Everyone close conspired to hide the truth. That election was stolen in my opinion. But who or what was behind it?
What to expect, after High Noon Inauguration Day 🇺🇸, there will be a cascading narrative of Spilling-the-Beans about the Biden(s) Administration.
They may have to limit Digital Ink (Censorship), as to hold back the flood waters. What I love about this coming period is reading “the dirt” on the Rats that get swept into the malevolent discourse of the Criminal Minds of the DNC and Administration.
Oh what a tale there is to tell with this one. John Grisham, Stephen King, Tom Clancy, and even Daniel Steele on A.I. could not produce enough juicy-pulp to match this Obama-Clinton and Biden ala carte exposé.
Truly a Publisher’s Wet Dream (Larry Flint R.I.P.) this one going to be a anecdotal doozy.
Merrick Garland would have fallen on a live grenade before releasing the audio tape of Robert Hur’s interview because he understood what the release would do to Lunch Box Joe. Amazing what you can hide (and for how long) when the mainstream media is on your side Jonathan.
My question is: are ANY of Biden’s appointments legal or legitimate since he arguably played no role whatsoever in making them. Biden was incapacitated from the get-go, as was obvious to one and all from the early days of the 2020 Basement Campaign. All of his Executive Orders, all of his Appointments, all of it… was decided by an unseen cabal of co-conspirators very likely led by a prior president. All of this needs to be investigated thoroughly. Who was in control of the autopen? Who was making the decisions that opened America up to an invasion by 8 million or more? Who placed onto the Supreme Court a jurist who could not define a woman? Who ILLEGALLY – in defiance of the Supreme Court itself – burdened hard-working taxpayers with hundreds of billions of dollars of student loans belonging to doctors and lawyers and MBAs and continues to do so to this day? Who is pardoning and commuting the sentences of thousands of criminals with grotesque records… and are they raking in cash for commutations, or contributions to the DNC? The questions are endless… when is the press going to start asking them?
The Democratic Party, Kamala Harris and Barack Obama have to live with this enduring stain. The cited interviews, the Hur documentation and Biden’s actions themselves all point to a massive cover-up of Joe’s mental status. The legitimacy of ‘pardons’ under such circumstances is not only questionable, they serve as a functional indictments of the behavior and ethics of any individual involved or so pardoned.
Barack and his sycophants have demonstrated, yet again, that any government without virtue is hollow and little more than a gang of hoods ruling by fiat
“The Democratic Party, Kamala Harris and Barack Obama have to live with this enduring stain.” It’s not a stain, to them it’s a badge of honor.
As is true of almost the entire prison population.
JAFO – you forget that Bill Clinton was able to live quite well with a similar stain.
What seems clear is that the biden arm of the dnc did not want harris to assume his position prior to the election (or even 1/20, perhaps if she’d won). Had he simply stepped down prior, she’d have ascended, right?
Internal polling showed harris was gonna lose a while before the election, but harris’s selection of walz assured she would not have been ‘clintoned’ had she won.
Two points:
This scandal creates a huge problem for the Democrats going forward because everyone that lied about Biden’s acuity is ruined politically, How can a Harris, Buttigieg, any of the senators, governors or reps that said Biden is sharp as tack now put themselves out there as a credible candidate?
As the latest example of the left/media accusing the right of what they are doing I submit to you the new complaint about “who is running Trump”? The new argument is that the “new Hitler”, the “new dictator”, the “new tyrant”, the “new Stalin” is somehow being controlled??? Did anyone ever say “who is controlling Hitler or Stalin”? The lying and gaslighting of these midwits is beyond shameless, it is embarrassingly stupid,
I disagree with you. I think that they’re dimwits.
I do agree with everything else that you wrote. It was funny yesterday to watch some of the dems complaining about Musk and calling him President Musk. They wish that he was helping them — forgetting of course that along with Rogan and others that he WAS one of them until recently. They may be all for cost-cutting and efficiency but are too protective of their own programs. They are also suddenly concerned with mental competence and questioning Trump’s abilities and age — after 5 years of silence or worse concerning Biden. They had to know that Biden has not been competent for years; they actively participated in hiding his disability and even praised his abilities. Maybe Biden can pardon the entire Dem party.
Let me pretend to be DeMac for a moment! 🙂
Jonathan: You are flogging a wild goose once again. That ship has already left the barn. Biden dropped out of the race months ago, and there are much more serious issues confronting our nation. Once again, an intelligent, thoughtful and professional woman of color has been marginalized, and publically humiliated. No, not Mayor Tiffany Henpecked, that black gal down in Georgia, what’s-her-name . . . oh, Fanny Hill, no wait – Fanny Wade! That’s it, Fanny Wade, because she was not free to love who she wanted to love, and the Republicans wanted to control her body lies over the ocean. Those lying DOGE-faced phony soldiers! Like Pete Hecksmith and Elon Muskrat Love! Oh, I am not having a good day, but I am as sharp as a tack! By jingy!!!
There is no more serious problem than the corrupt press! Without a ‘free & honest’ press as envisioned by our Founding Fathers and as the Washington Post has declared…”Democracy Dies in Darkness!”
Brilliant parody! Thanks.
I thought that the WSJ article gave a little more detail regarding the lengths to which Biden’s staff covered up for him, but it wasn’t earth-shattering. It was about 4.5 years too late. I thought that he had dementia when he was running in 2020; his eyes looked like my relative’s who had Alzheimer’s.
The article kept referring to his having age-related problems. Cillizza also wrote of an age issue. It’s not, it’s dementia. Warren Buffet has age-related problems in his 90’s but is sharp as a tack and can answer questions for hours (that were not submitted in advance).
The bigger question that I would like to see addressed is what has Biden’s staff done to us? How are their actions constitutional? My dog could have done better with Afghanistan and the decisions that led to wars and tension around the world. Biden has the honor of being acknowledged as the worst-ever president. His policies and decisions were awful and his recent profligate spending, and even his pardons thus far (and I expect more and worse) are terrible and well outside of norms. Whoever is making those is really bad and was not elected. I will give Biden credit for still being able to read a teleprompter as well as he does.
The press utterly failed and that includes most of the WSJ writers. They deserve what they are getting — reduced credibility and smaller audiences. They traded their roles of being watchdogs for being lapdogs. X deserves a lot of credit, especially after Musk revealed (with the help of Taibbi and Shellenberger) what constraints our government had placed on Twitter.
How could I possibly forget Kamala? Well, I guess that it was too easy. She failed to do her duty. Where was she, what decisions did she make?
We are so lucky that she was not elected. I can’t imagine her having a political future after her total failure as a VP,
Turls, with respect to one of your favorite lies, the one that goes: Biden wasn’t charged due to age related diminishment>>no Biden wasn’t charged in the docs investigation for the same reason Pence wasn’t. Intent to steal wasn’t present with either of them…
Whereas intent was certainly established in trump’s case. Full stop….
Hur tossed in the age related observation on Biden as a way to channel off the outrage the R’s would shovel toward him for not finding evidence enough to charge.
All useful though for your purposes of deflection from the fact trump often loses track of what town he’s in and sounds totally compromised when forced to speak freely.
“Turls”…really? No need to read!
ATS, sorry but your full of schiff.
Biden was president during the Hurr investigation, he could not be charged. Period.
However as Hurr clearly stated, He did not make a charging recomendation because Biden was not competent to stand trial.
Further Hurr found that Biden was not likely competent in 2017 much less 2020.
Vice Presidents have very limited protection with respect to the espionage act.
Regardless, a major part of your problem that polutes the nor only the Biden classified docs malfeasance, but the Clinton and Trump cases and all the way back to the Pentagon papers cases.
Posession of Classified documents is NOT a crime. Mis handling them, neglegently handling them is.
SCOTUS not only precluded the Nixon administration from charging WaPo and NYT over the possession fo the Pentagon Papers, but precluded government from recovering even the unpublished documents.
Clinton Violated the law by Removing large numbers of classified documents from a SCIF, intentionally sharing them with people not permitted access, and unintentionally sharing them with hostile foreign powers.
Biden removed classified documents from a SCIF as Senator, continued to do so as VP, and while out of office repeatedly moved classified documents to unsecure locations.
It is POSSIBLE that VP Biden did not intentionally remove some classified documents at the end of his term, that was the determination regarding Pence. Regardless, he knowingly and recklessly moved them from one insecure location to the next.
Pence does not appear to have packed the classified documents found in his posession, did not know that he had them, and they were not unpacked and discovered until after the MAL raid.
Conversely as SC Smith ceded, the Trump Classified documents were moved to MAL legally while Trump was president.
That should have been the end of the case. Constitutionally the president can do any damn thing he pleases with classified documents.
Further all the papers of his WhiteHouse are the presidents property to do with as he pleases, classified or not.
This is the only workable understanding of the constitution. While the big case on this is JW vs. NARA, there is an unbroken chain of cases after the PRA became law that reaffirm that Presidents OWN the papers of their WH term – classified or not, and that the courts do not even have jurisdiction over questions of posession regarding WH documents – even classified WH documents.
The point being the ONLY defense available to Biden was incompetence. The Pence case is NOT the same. Pence did not share classified documents – Biden did. Pence did not move classified documents from one insecure location to another, Pence did not know he posessed classified documents. The only similarity is they both were Vice Presidents and classified documents were found in their posession after their term.
I would separately note that exVP’s and exPresidents can request, and receive classified documents after they leave office, and unlike anyone else they have no requirement to demonstrate a need to know. But there are still obligated to handle those documents securely.
In the pantheon of worthless comments, this one stands out.
A question for all the legal brains on this thread. Please let us know — if Biden is no longer of sound mind (which we know), are any of his Pardons legal?
Today’s news is that Kamala has cancelled her trip and heading back to DC and the Biden’s are going back too. Could it be possible that Biden will resign, give the VP the Presidency for a month AND Kamala will be the First US President and will then be of ‘sound mind and body’ to do all the Pardons Biden and she have cooked up. Nothing is beyond what they have done to this country over the last four years and the lies that have supported this failing man. The sham and shame of the Democrats has no bounds and hate, not country, is what guides their motivations. Words are cheap — actions are consequential.
What do you all think?
Not a chance at all.
1 Month to go! 👨💼 Trump is Comming 🦅
Today is December 20th-> January 20th 2025 | Inauguration Day 🇺🇸
Trump is already the DeFacto president.
Biden was certified as president by congress on J6 and took the oath of office in Jan 20. From then until Jan 20, 2025 he is the president – absent impeachment and removal, resignation, or successful invocation of the 25th amendment.
The fact that he was incompetent during that time does not alter the constitutional legitimacy of his actions.
The constitution imposes no requirement for competency on the president. The 25th amendment merely provides the means to remove a president that is not competent.
This is the constitution. Turley appears to be suggesting that the Biden presidency makes a compelling case that we need to amend the constitution to address this.
I am certain that this is on the table around which all the co-conspirators are gathered. This is a major CYOA situation here and we should make sure that no paperwork, etc disappears like hillary’s servers.
Joe Biden’s gathering dementia was no secret to anyone who has lived with a person who has had it, start to finish. That the Democrats have engaged in this deception also is no surprise to anyone who has lived with them
Kevin, frankly it is no surprise to anyone who hasn’t lived with it too. It was plain to see as far back as 2019 and anyone that didn’t see it either didn’t watch any news or was just a partisan not believing their own eyes.
To me the funny part of this disaster of a story is that fools like Dennis, Gigi, Anonymous (a few of them), the media, many pols etc etc hithced their wagons to this lying, stupid, corrupt, nasty old fool.