President Joe Biden, who is facing pressure from Democrats to drop out of the 2024 race because of concerns about his age and health, has not held a full Cabinet meeting in over nine months and left its members in the dark about his condition, according to a new report.
CNN broke the story on Thursday as Biden attempts to reassure supporters that he is capable of leading effectively and run for a second term after a debate performance against President Donald Trump late last month in which he appeared confused and lost his train of thought.
The report noted the last full Cabinet meeting took place more than half a year ago on October 2, 2023, and cited one unnamed secretary who said members of the Cabinet were uncertain of how 81-year-old Biden was doing because they hardly ever get to see the commander in chief.
Sources told CNN that before closed-door Cabinet meetings — when they had been taking place — it was routine for them to submit questions and talking points to White House aides in advance, leaving one to say the gatherings were “not free-wheeling, and pretty well-orchestrated.”
CNN reported the White House shared a statement from Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack saying that what the story described about the Cabinet meetings was “standard practice for any administration” because “there should not be surprise in Cabinet meetings.”
House Republicans have pressed Vice President Kamala Harris to get a majority of the Cabinet to remove the president from office using the 25th Amendment since at least February, following the release of a special counsel report that spoke about Biden exhibiting memory problems.
They cranked up the pressure on the White House on Wednesday when Oversight Committee Chairman James Comer (R-KY) subpoenaed three of Biden’s staffers following reporting from Axios that suggested they were seeking to cover up Biden’s apparent declining cognitive state.
NBC News chief political analyst Chuck Todd said on his podcast this week that a Cabinet official, whom he did not name, questioned whether the president would be capable of seeking a second term in the White House — sometime in the first half of Biden’s administration.
“I’m not gonna out the Cabinet secretary, right?” the former moderator of “Meet The Press” said on “The Chuck Toddcast,” adding, “But I had a Cabinet secretary two years ago… all out of the blue ask me, ‘Do you really think he’s gonna — he can’t run again like this?’”
He continued, “This is a pretty senior cabinet secretary. And this was two years ago.” Todd went on, “This is one of those, you know, it’s the classic open secret, a non-versation, right? It’s the story everybody knows and no one was — everybody was afraid to talk about.”
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[[{“value”:”
President Joe Biden, who is facing pressure from Democrats to drop out of the 2024 race because of concerns about his age and health, has not held a full Cabinet meeting in over nine months and left its members in the dark about his condition, according to a new report.
CNN broke the story on Thursday as Biden attempts to reassure supporters that he is capable of leading effectively and run for a second term after a debate performance against President Donald Trump late last month in which he appeared confused and lost his train of thought.
The report noted the last full Cabinet meeting took place more than half a year ago on October 2, 2023, and cited one unnamed secretary who said members of the Cabinet were uncertain of how 81-year-old Biden was doing because they hardly ever get to see the commander in chief.
Sources told CNN that before closed-door Cabinet meetings — when they had been taking place — it was routine for them to submit questions and talking points to White House aides in advance, leaving one to say the gatherings were “not free-wheeling, and pretty well-orchestrated.”
CNN reported the White House shared a statement from Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack saying that what the story described about the Cabinet meetings was “standard practice for any administration” because “there should not be surprise in Cabinet meetings.”
House Republicans have pressed Vice President Kamala Harris to get a majority of the Cabinet to remove the president from office using the 25th Amendment since at least February, following the release of a special counsel report that spoke about Biden exhibiting memory problems.
They cranked up the pressure on the White House on Wednesday when Oversight Committee Chairman James Comer (R-KY) subpoenaed three of Biden’s staffers following reporting from Axios that suggested they were seeking to cover up Biden’s apparent declining cognitive state.
NBC News chief political analyst Chuck Todd said on his podcast this week that a Cabinet official, whom he did not name, questioned whether the president would be capable of seeking a second term in the White House — sometime in the first half of Biden’s administration.
“I’m not gonna out the Cabinet secretary, right?” the former moderator of “Meet The Press” said on “The Chuck Toddcast,” adding, “But I had a Cabinet secretary two years ago… all out of the blue ask me, ‘Do you really think he’s gonna — he can’t run again like this?’”
He continued, “This is a pretty senior cabinet secretary. And this was two years ago.” Todd went on, “This is one of those, you know, it’s the classic open secret, a non-versation, right? It’s the story everybody knows and no one was — everybody was afraid to talk about.”
“}]]
