Insiders reveal worrying new details about Biden's cognitive decline

Joe Biden's cognitive decline has become readily apparent to dozens of high-ranking officials in recent months, a bombshell new report claims. More than 45 Republican and Democratic lawmakers and staffers offered insight on the subject, citing recent mistakes by the commander-in-chief they found concerning. Aired in the midst of an election year, the report paints a picture of a president considerably slower than days' past, while the White House maintains the 81-year-old is still a top leader.

The dozens who spoke to The Wall Street Journal disagreed - describing a president who today speaks so softly that some struggle to even understand what he's saying. Others pointed to the commander-in-chief's declining grasp of important policy details , and increasing reliance on notes and impromptu offerings from aides. Several said Biden's demeanor varies by the day - as the White House reportedly went through great pains to keep tabs on what Democrats were saying. The report, titled 'Behind Closed Doors, Biden Shows Signs of Slipping', published Tuesday.

'You couldn't be there and not feel uncomfortable,' one anonymous source said of a meeting with Biden during critical negotiations over congressional funding for Ukraine aid back in January where the president moved so slowly, it took him roughly 10 minutes to greet the nearly two dozen top leaders summoned. The meeting did not start until the president was finished, several who attended told the paper - before describing the ensuing discussion meant to secure more congressional funding. At that point, Biden, the oldest-ever U.S. president, began reading from his notes, making broad points about the need to give money to Ukraine.

This struck several as odd, sources said - given the lawmakers there were more than familiar with the fact that funds were needed. Some said they also had trouble hearing him, as officials in Ukraine desperately beseeched the U.S. for munitions. Biden, moreover, deferred most of the talks to other lawmakers, several said - to the point where most of the conversation did not include him. When questions were posed straight to him, he would turn to staffers, they all said - describing just the first alarming sign they have seen this year. In another instance that month not mentioned by the Journal, Biden would go on to mix up the names of two of his Hispanic cabinet secretaries, sparking more speculation on his mental capabilities.

Within weeks, he publicly forgot the names of Russian dissident Alexei Navalny's widow and a German chancellor who died in 2017, while also confusing the leaders of far-flung Egypt and Mexico. During a fundraiser in February, he claimed to have recently spoken to former French President François Mitterrand - despite Mitterrand dying in 1996. A few days later, in an instance mentioned by the Journal, Biden seemed to not understand one of his own policies during a conversation with Louisiana Republican Mike Johnson, several who spoke to the paper said. Johnson, the current speaker of the house and a staunch Trump supporter, declined to be interviewed about the exchange, but multiple witnesses did. It surrounded more military assistance to Ukraine, with Biden reportedly asking what it would take to bring the matter to a House vote.

The insiders, in turn, described how Johnson brought up a new administration energy policy that halts future permits for shipping liquefied natural gas to many countries, including in Europe, effectively forcing U.S. allies to import more fuel from energy rich rivals like Russia. 'Mr. President, you are helping Vladimir Putin,' Johnson reportedly told the president at the time, one person said. Biden reportedly responding by claiming that was not true, erroneously stating policy was only a study, several others said. They detailed how Johnson seemed visibly horrified by the fact Biden appeared to have forgotten details of his own policy - especially at a time where the U.S. is involved with not one, but two conflicts at risk of reaching World War-levels.

Moreover, in recent months, Biden has also said he believes Xi Jinping - the president of China - is a dictator, an assertion that appeared to visibly perturb Secretary of State Antony Blinken, then fresh off a diplomacy trip to the country. That instance, like several others involving Biden this year, was not mentioned by the Journal, but others equally concerning - if not more so - were. This included a meeting in May 2023 where Biden again appeared not at his best, during talks about the increasing debt ceiling. 'He would ramble,' said Mike McCarthy, who led the Republican side of the discussion. Others added the president spoke so softly that those present, again, struggled to hear what he was saying.

He allegedly also told the same story more than once, about his experiences with the DuPont company during his time as a Delaware senator, one person said. That came as a far cry from the Biden who led similar talks more than a decade ago as vice president, when he was able to successfully sway Republicans into a compromise to quell the ever-rising number - now at $34.61trillion. The president additionally let it slip recently that he is not sure he would be seeking a second term if Donald Trump were not running - a message at odds with t he usual united front of the Democratic party.

This comes on top of a checkered three years of similar gaffes, including a widely seen spill two years ago - off a bike - in Delaware. That year, the lifelong politician also bizarrely claimed he used to be a 'full professor' at the University of Pennsylvania , and that his high school theology teacher was drafted by the Green Bay Packers. Both claims were decidedly false, the result of verbal flubs sources told the Journal are becoming all too common. This year, he confused a Congressional funding bill for Ukraine with NATO, and reportedly gave a bumbling interview with Special Counsel Robert Hur, who in turn escribed the 81-year-old Democrat's memory as 'hazy,' 'fuzzy,' 'faulty,' and 'poor'. He added the president's mental faculties have 'significant limitations', as his physical capabilities have also come into question.

Falls on stage during the 2023 United States Air Force Academy Graduation Ceremony at Falcon Stadium this time last year and several falls on the steps of Air Force One come to mind, none of which were mentioned by the sources who spoke to the Journal. Like many politicians, Biden often workshops lines he'll be able to use later - for larger crowds - when he's in more intimate settings. Problems, however, arise when reporters are on the scene - and the president's words, because of his current position of power, are judged more harshly than a candidate's. But as the Journal found, figures respected enough to secure important positions of the government are now worried as well - a sign that the worse may have yet to come.

Despite this uncertainty - less than half a year ahead of a faceoff with famously candid, now convicted Donald Trump - Biden remains neck and neck with his longtime rival in most polls, with the Republican usually showing a slight lead. White House officials, meanwhile, in a statement dismissed many of the accounts from those who spoke to the Journal, calling them politically motivated. That said, the Journal revealed Biden's team kept close tabs several of The Wall Street Journal’s interviews, specifically with Democratic lawmakers.

In one portion of the piece, reporters Annie Linskey and Siobhan Hughes pointed how once several Democrats who spoke shared with the White House either a recording of their interview or details about what was asked, some called back to emphasis Biden’s strengths. 'They just, you know, said that I should give you a call back,' said Rep. Gregory Meeks, a New York Democrat, reportedly said in once such call. In an attempt to explain, a White House spokesperson reportedly said, 'We thought it was important that all perspectives be represented.' The official added he was attempting to correct what he painted as 'false and politically motivated claims.' DailyMail.com has reached out to the White House for comment.

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