Former Vice President Joe Biden held a press conference on Tuesday to discuss the ongoing coronavirus pandemic, the economy, and his opponent in the 2020 election, President Donald Trump. During his remarks, the Democrat didn’t hold back, slamming Trump’s cognitive ability, as video of the event from Fox News shows.
“This president talks about cognitive capability. He doesn’t seem to be cognitively aware of what’s going on,” said Biden.
“He either reads and/or gets briefed on important issues and he forgets it, or he doesn’t think it’s necessary that he needs to know it.”
Biden was referring to recent reports that Trump was made aware that Russian officials had placed a bounty on the heads of U.S. soldiers in Afghanistan. Allegedly, the Kremlin offered money to anyone associated with Taliban-associated fighters who were willing to kill American troops. Trump was reportedly made aware of the situation months ago but chose not to act on the intelligence.
The president and the White House have said that neither Trump nor Vice President Mike Pence was appraised of the situation. Meanwhile, intelligence officials and people familiar with the situation have said that the White House was made aware of the bounties.
Biden said that at a minimum, Trump should have brought the Joint Chiefs of Staff together to get more information about the situation before deciding whether or not to act.
“But the fact is that at a minimum, at a minimum, the discrepancy – allegedly – within the intelligence community as reported, some thought it was more certain and others thought it was less certain,” Biden said.
“The president should have, on day one, said, ‘I want you to come before me in the Situation Room and lay out the differences and discretion.’”
Biden went on to compare Trump’s behavior to that of former President Barack Obama, whom Biden served under. He said that Obama read intelligence briefings every day. If Trump didn’t know about the situation, it constitutes a “dereliction of duty” in Biden’s opinion.
He added that the American people deserved answers and there should be an investigation into the entire situation. If it is found to be true that Trump knew about the situation and failed to act, he would be unfit to stay in office, Biden said in response to a question about what the consequences should be.
Trump has attacked Biden in the past, saying that the former vice president is too senile to lead the country and calling him “sleepy.”
It’s not the first time Biden has been critical of Trump’s handling of the news about the bounties.