Biden refuses cognitive test, brushes off ‘bad night’ in ABC News interview: updates

President Joe Biden’s cold was worse than previously reported as the president underwent cram sessions during prep ahead of his disastrous debate performance against Donald Trump, according to a new report.

Aides and Biden, 81, have blamed the cold and rejected concerns regarding his age and stamina. Two days before the debate, it was so bad Biden could barely speak, the five sources told Politico.

After a short mock debate, the president chose to rest instead of participating in additional sessions that day. Two days before the June 27 debate, Biden took two COVID tests that both came back negative.

The following day was packed with prep, including policy huddles and a smaller mock debate, as aides tried to make up for lost time. Another session was held on Thursday before Biden headed to Atlanta for the debate.

A number of advisors regretted that final session but still couldn’t foresee Biden’s dismal performance.

“All it did was wear him out and muddle things,” one source told the outlet.

President Joe Biden said he consulted his doctors after his poor debate performance who told him he was “exhausted.”

“[The doctor]– just looked at me and said, ‘You’re exhausted.’ That’s it. I have medical doctors travel with me everywhere. Every President does, as you know. Medical doctors, some of the best in the world travel with me everywhere I go. I have an ongoing assessment of what I’m doin’, and they don’t hesitate to tell me if they think there’s something wrong,” Biden told ABC News on Friday evening.

“There’s not a lot to feel good about here.

Joe Biden — the man who put on a good show in 2019 on a packed-out stage of Democratic hopefuls to become the official presidential nominee — now struggles to answer questions coherently, even in a softball interview like the one tonight on ABC News with George Stephanopoulos.

As Stephanopoulos repeatedly asked the president what happened on the debate stage when he floundered in front of Donald Trump, Biden replied, “I had a bad night,” or, “I just had a bad night,” and eventually, “I had a bad night. I don’t know why.””

Minnesota Representative Angie Craig has called for President Joe Biden to “step aside” from the 2024 presidential race because of his poor debate performance.

“I have great respect for President Biden’s decades of service to our nation and his steadfast commitment to making our country a better place,” Craig wrote.

“However, given what I saw and heard from the President during last week’s debate in Atlanta, coupled with the lack of a forceful response from the President himself following the debate, I do not believe that the President can effectively campaign and win against Donald Trump,” she continued.

Craig said she did not come to her decision lightly but believes there is “too much at stake” to risk losing the election to Trump.

She asked the president to make room for a new generation of leaders within the party.

President Joe Biden said the first presidential debate was a “bad night” for him but assured Americans that he is still well enough to run a successful presidential campaign and defeat Donald Trump in November.

When speaking with ABC News’ George Stephanopoulos on Friday evening, Biden raised various reasons why he did not do well in the debate including that Donald Trump distracted him, he was tired, had recently been traveling, had a cold and did not prepare well.

“ It was a bad episode. No indication of any serious condition. I was exhausted. I didn’t listen to my instincts in terms of preparing and– and a bad night,” Biden said.

It was an absurd hypothetical raised by an appeals court judge to point out the literally unbelievable and dangerous consequences of the legal argument from Donald Trump’s attorneys.

But it landed as a shocking warning from a Supreme Court justice in an earthquaking decision this week that shields Trump from accountability for crimes committed in office.

In his energetic rally speech in Wisconsin on Friday, Biden laid out the stakes of the 2024 election, once again warning that the fate of American democracy hangs in the balance if Trump wins.

He referenced Trump’s criminal convictions for falsifying business records to pay off a porn star, and how a jury determined that he sexually assaulted E Jean Carroll and then awarded her $90m for defaming her.

The “so-called great businessman” was fined $400m for fraud in his civil trial in New York, Biden said.

“He’s not just a convicted criminal, he’s a one-man crime wave,” Biden said.

Biden also referenced Trump’s threats to abortion rights and his opposition to gun control measures in the middle of a gun violence crisis.

“Let’s exile Trump politically,” Biden said before leaving the stage.

Project 2025’s 900-page manifesto for nearly every detail of a second Trump presidency was drawn up by more than a dozen former Trump administration officials and advisers, who have planned to “integrate” the document into the campaign’s platform in the coming months.

But on Friday, as his Democratic rivals use Project 2025 as shorthand for his agenda, Trump claimed that he the proposal is news to him.

AOC is filing impeachment articles. Other Democrats are backing a constitutional amendment to reverse the Supreme Court’s presidential immunity ruling. Ethics investigations are underway. And Biden is once again facing calls to back an expansion of the bench.

Here’s how Democrats in Congress are pushing to overhaul the Supreme Court: