A new book revealed that former President Joe Biden’s team chose not to have the president take a cognitive test in February 2024, over concerns that taking the test itself would raise more questions about his age, The New York Times reported Sunday.
Authors Tyler Pager, a reporter for The New York Times, Josh Dawsey, a reporter for the Wall Street Journal and Isaac Arnsdorf, a reporter for the Washington Post, wrote the book, titled, “2024: How Trump Retook the White House and the Democrats Lost America,” which is set to be released in July.
The book, one of several about the tumultuous 2024 presidential election, details that Biden’s top aides debated having him complete a cognitive test to quell concerns about his age.
The aides were reportedly confident Biden would pass the test.
“At the same time, Mr. Biden’s longtime doctor, Kevin O’Connor, had told aides he would not take the 81-year-old president’s political standing into consideration when treating him,” the Times reported, citing the book.
The debate over whether the president should take the test occurred in February 2024, several months before the June debate against President Donald Trump, and just a couple of weeks before Biden’s White House physical exam, the Times reported.
It was the same month that Special Counsel Robert Hur’s report about the former president’s mishandling of classified documents was released.
The special counsel described Biden as “a sympathetic, well-meaning, elderly man with a poor memory.”
The NYT report also described a conversation from the new book between former Biden chief of staff Ron Klain and former Obama aide and frequent CNN guest, David Axelrod.
Klain, according to NYT, called Axelrod following a Times report from June 2022 that quoted Axelrod saying, “The stark reality is the president would be closer to 90 than 80 at the end of a second term, and that would be a major issue.”
“That comment prompted an angry call to Mr. Axelrod from Ron Klain, then Mr. Biden’s chief of staff, according to the book. Mr. Klain wanted to know why Mr. Axelrod was fueling doubts about a Democratic president who was on track to begin a re-election campaign,” the NYT reported.
“There’s no Obama out there, Axe,” Klain said during the call, according to the Times. “Who’s going to do it if he doesn’t do it?”
Another new book about the 2024 campaign revealed that Klain said Biden was “fatigued, befuddled and disengaged” before his debate with Trump in June. Klain helped Biden prepare for the debate after exiting his White House role.
“At his first meeting with Biden in Aspen Lodge, the president’s cabin,” author Chris Whipple wrote, Klain “was startled. He’d never seen him so exhausted and out of it. Biden was unaware of what was happening in his own campaign. Halfway through the session, the president excused himself and went off to sit by the pool.”
Whipple’s book, “Uncharted: How Trump Beat Biden, Harris, and the Odds in the Wildest Campaign in History,” was released in April.
A representative for Biden did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
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