As President Trump’s campaign sharpens its attacks on Joe Biden’s age and mental acumen, the presumptive 2020 Democratic presidential nominee was asked whether he’s submitted himself to cognitive testing.
“Have you been tested for some degree of cognitive decline?” a reporter inquired Tuesday at Biden’s first press conference in almost 90 days.
Biden replied: “I’ve been testing, and I’m constantly testing. Look, all you got to do is watch me. And I can hardly wait to compare my cognitive capability to the cognitive capability of the man I’m running against.”
Biden took questions from the media after an address in Wilmington, Delaware, during which he skewered Trump for his COVID-19 response.
During his back-and-forth, he cast doubt on Trump’s own mental capacity as the White House deals with a report that Russia offered the Taliban bounties to kill U.S. troops in Afghanistan.
“This president talks about cognitive capability. He doesn’t seem to be cognitively aware of what’s going on,” Biden said. “The idea that he didn’t know or wasn’t being briefed — that’s a dereliction of duty. And if he was briefed and didn’t do anything about it, that’s a dereliction of duty.”
Since March, Trump’s team has been more open in criticizing how Biden’s age will affect a potential administration.
“He’s not playing with a full deck, folks,” Trump spokeswoman Abigail Marone wrote in an email earlier this year.
Biden, 77, is only slightly older than Trump, 74, but will turn 78 by next January’s inauguration should he win in November. President Ronald Reagan, the oldest commander in chief to date, was 77 at the end of his second term in 1989.
