Senate Majority Leader Charles E. Schumer brushed off anxieties over President Biden’s mental fitness as nothing more than a figment of Republicans’ imagination.
“His mental acuity is great. It’s fine. It’s as good as it’s been over the years. I’ve been speaking to him for 30 years,” Mr. Schumer, New York Democrat, told reporters Tuesday. “He’s fine. All this right-wing propaganda that his mental acuity has declined is wrong.”
Mr. Schumer’s defense comes as Democrats panic publicly and privately over Mr. Biden’s reelection prospects in the wake of a special counsel report painting him as too feeble-minded to be prosecuted, and polls showing an overwhelming majority of voters who feel he’s “too old” for another term.
West Virginia Attorney General Patrick Morrisey urged Vice President Kamala Harris on Tuesday to invoke the 25th Amendment and declare that Mr. Biden is unfit to do his job.
In a letter to Ms. Harris, the Republican state attorney general noted the Democratic president’s public gaffes, such as mixing up political figures and fumbling through speeches.
“These serious mental missteps have equally serious consequences,” Mr. Morrisey wrote.
Sen. Chris Coons of Delaware, a close ally to Mr. Biden, has blamed the media writ large for too closely scrutinizing the president’s frequent gaffes and occasional physical stumbles.
Special Counsel Robert Hur concluded his investigation into Mr. Biden’s alleged mishandling of classified materials last week and declined to bring criminal charges against him despite saying he posed “serious risks to national security” by having “willfully retained and disclosed classified materials.”
Mr. Hur feared it would be “difficult to convince a jury” that he was guilty beyond a reasonable doubt of mishandling documents as a private citizen after his vice presidency because he came off as a “sympathetic, well-meaning, elderly man with a poor memory.”
In a shift, the White House said Tuesday it was reviewing releasing the transcripts of Mr. Biden’s interview with Mr. Hur.
Mr. Biden has defiantly pushed back against Mr. Hur’s characterization, saying he may be elderly and well-meaning but that he knows “what the hell I’m doing.”
Most voters seem to disagree.
A whopping 86% of voters in an ABC News/Ipsos poll taken after Mr. Hur’s report said the 81-year-old was “too old” for a second term, by the end of which Mr. Biden would be 86. In the survey, 62% said the same of former President Donald Trump, who is 77.
Morning Consult polling suggested Mr. Hur’s report failed to sway voters because most of them — 68% — already thought Mr. Biden was too elderly. That number was unchanged in the days before and after the special counsel’s report.
More than half of Americans say Mr. Biden was treated with kid gloves when Mr. Hur didn’t file criminal charges, according to a survey released Tuesday.
The Reuters/IPSOS poll said 53% of all respondents agreed with the statement that Mr. Biden “received special treatment because he is the U.S. president.” Notably, 30% of Democrats surveyed agreed with the statement.
Some 64% of respondents, including 50% of Democrats, said it was “believable” that Mr. Biden illegally retained the classified documents.
The poll also found that an overwhelming 78% of respondents, including 71% of Democrats, say Mr. Biden is “too old to work in government.”
Mr. Schumer said he speaks with Mr. Biden “regularly, sometimes several times in a week,” and sought to offer reassurances that the president will defeat the Republican frontrunner.
“He’s going to win the election because he has a great record, because more and more Americans are seeing that record, because the economy is improving and because a large number of Americans — including Republicans — fear a Donald Trump presidency for the future of our democracy,” Mr. Schumer said.
— Jeff Mordock and Mallory Wilson contributed to this report.
• Ramsey Touchberry can be reached at rtouchberry@washingtontimes.com.
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