Joe Biden is only fully functional from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m., according to a report by Axios published Saturday in the wake of Biden’s disastrous not-ready-for-primetime debate with President Trump Thursday night. The report states White House staff know there are ‘two Bidens’: One who is fully engaged for about six hours a day and the one Americans (and the world) saw staring into space and struggling to articulate lucid, complete thoughts during the debate Thursday night.
Biden’s poor performance at the debate helps explain why he has claimed executive privilege to prevent the public from hearing the audio recordings of his October 2023 interview with Special Counsel Robert Hur in the classified documents investigation. According to a transcript released by Hur, among many miscues, Biden could not remember when he served as vice president or when his son Beau passed away. Hur said he decided not charge Biden for illegally possessing classified documents from his time as senator and vice president because a jury would likely see Biden as a “well-meaning, elderly man with a poor memory,”–a polite way of saying the president of the United States was mentally incompetent to stand trial.
Hur’s report, released in February, sent shock waves through Washington, leading to speculation about Biden’s ability. A strong performance at the State of the Union address in March bought Biden time until the debate. Now that the public has seen the real Biden, the truth of his condition is starting to leak out to the media.