The White House urged Democrats interviewed by the Wall Street Journal for a report about President Biden's mental acuity to call the newspaper back and push back on "false" narratives, with one congressman defending the president's sharpness admitting to a reporter he was told to call back.
In a report titled "Behind Closed Doors, Biden Shows Signs of Slipping," the Wall Street Journal outlined several instances where the 81-year-old president made gaffes and displayed low energy in various meetings with lawmakers and officials, citing dozens of interviews with Republicans and Democrats who either participated in meetings with Biden or were briefed on them at the time.
"The White House kept close tabs on some of The Wall Street Journal’s interviews with Democratic lawmakers," the Journal wrote. "After the offices of several Democrats shared with the White House either a recording of an interview or details about what was asked, some of those lawmakers spoke to the Journal a second time and once again emphasized Biden’s strengths."
One Democrat, Rep. Gregory Meeks, D-N.Y., revealed the White House's efforts in an exchange with the Journal.
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"They just, you know, said that I should give you a call back," Meeks told a reporter, referring to the White House.
White House spokesman Andrew Bates told the Journal, "We thought it was important that all perspectives be represented" to push back on what he alleged were "false and politically motivated claims."
Meeks reportedly attended a White House meeting in January focused on providing funding for Ukraine, where Biden's performance raised concerns.
"The president moved so slowly around the Cabinet Room to greet the nearly two dozen congressional leaders that it took about 10 minutes for the meeting to begin, some people who attended recalled," the Journal reported.
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Attendees told the Journal that Biden heavily relied on notes to make "broad points" about the importance of providing aid to Ukraine.
"Biden deferred so frequently to other lawmakers that much of the conversation didn’t include him, some people who attended the meeting recalled. When questions came directly to him, he would turn to staffers, they said," the Journal wrote before quoting an attendee who said "You couldn’t be there and not feel uncomfortable."
House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, D-N.Y., countered that Biden was "incredibly strong, forceful and decisive" at the meeting.
Former Republican House Speaker Kevin McCarthy also told the Journal that Biden was "not the same person" as when he was vice president, and the report broadly quoted Democrats and others who knew him when he was VP that he has both "good moments and bad ones."
Meeks told the Journal, "I found him to be the same Joe Biden that I’ve known since I came to Congress," noting he was first elected in 1998.
Top Biden aide Gene Sperling, who previously served in the Clinton and Obama administrations, told the Journal having notes in policy meetings with lawmakers is standard practice for presidents, according to the report. A National Security Council official who attended that meeting claimed Biden only turned to aides only twice, once to National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan and once to Director of National Intelligence Avril Haines.
When asked for comment, the White House pointed to the statement given to the Journal which read, "Congressional Republicans, foreign leaders and nonpartisan national-security experts have made clear in their own words that President Biden is a savvy and effective leader who has a deep record of legislative accomplishment. Now, in 2024, House Republicans are making false claims as a political tactic that flatly contradict previous statements made by themselves and their colleagues."
Additionally, Bates said McCarthy had contradicted past statements about finding Biden sharp in private meetings, calling him a "proven liar." He also cited Washington Sen. Patty Murray, who wrote on X that she'd told the Journal that Biden was engaged in the meeting but wasn't cited in the report, although it did quote Jeffries and other Democrats who defended the president.
"President Biden inherited an economy in freefall, fraying alliances, and a spiking violent crime rate, and he turned each around with his experience and judgment, delivering the strongest economic growth in the world, making NATO bigger than ever, and forcing violent crime to a near 50-year low," Bates told Fox News Digital.
A spokesperson for The Wall Street Journal says it stands by its reporting.
Questions continue to swirl around Biden's mental acuity as he seeks re-election. The issue reached new levels in February following the release of Special Counsel Robert Hur's report, which claimed Biden did not remember key details like when he was vice president and the year his son Beau died.
