White House fends off tough questions about Biden’s mental fitness after debate performance

Washington (CNN) — The White House on Tuesday fended off tough questions about President Joe Biden’s mental fitness, acknowledging his poor performance in last week’s debate while maintaining the president is still able to hold and run for office.

“First of all, I want to say, we understand the concerns. We get it. The president did not have a great night,” White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said.

She later added: “We’re not taking away from what the American people saw.”

Tuesday’s press briefing, the first since the debate, came as Biden has faced one of the toughest stretches of his presidency and with his reelection campaign reeling. Campaign officials are scrambling to calm donors who were shocked by Biden’s halting, hoarse performance. Democratic governors and legislators have demanded a meeting with the president. Some officials have been turned off by the Biden campaign’s dismissiveness over their concerns about the president’s health. And earlier on Tuesday, a Democratic member of Congress became the first to ask Biden to drop out of the race.

The White House preempted the first questions from reporters by announcing Biden will appear in two high-profile events over the next week: an interview with ABC’s George Stephanopoulos that will air in part on Friday and a solo news conference during the NATO summit in Washington next week.

Asked whether Biden regularly presents himself the way he did at the debate, Jean-Pierre evoked a speech that Biden gave in North Carolina the day after the debate: “He understands that he’s not a young man. … What his focus is going to continue to deliver for the American people on on the on the issues that they care about.”

Jean-Pierre reiterated that Biden had been sick last Thursday - adding that he still had a cold. The president did not take any cold medication prior to the debate, she said.

“I would not see this as an episode,” Jean-Pierre said. “I would see this as what it was and what we believe it to be – which is, it was a bad night.”

She added the administration is “absolutely not” hiding information about the president’s health or ability to do his job.

This is a breaking story and will be updated.

CNN’s Samantha Waldenberg contributed to this report.

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