Biden Held ‘Tense’ Call with House Democrats Over Age Concerns

Joe Biden held a conference call with multiple Democrats in the U.S. House of Representatives on Saturday, just hours before an assassination attempt against his opponent Donald Trump, over concerns that Biden is incapable of serving another four years.

According to ABC News, the call was held over Zoom and saw heated tensions between Biden and congressional Democrats. The Democrats were members of the New Democrat Coalition, which consists of nearly 100 members of Congress. One lawmaker later recounted the call to the press, saying that Biden gave “rambling responses” without directly answering questions, which he was clearly not prepared to do.

Biden himself was 30 minutes late to the call, which further fueled concerns about the 81-year-old’s physical capabilities. Others were concerned by Biden’s lack of a political strategy, as well as the disappointing nature of his overall presentation.

One member who grilled Biden was Congressman Jason Crow (D-Colo.), whose question about Biden’s age being a “national security risk” led to a “tense” exchange with the president that others on the call described as “hard to watch,” as Biden became “defensive” in his responses.

Crow highlighted voters’ worries about Biden being “at the helm when they go to sleep at night.” In response, Biden brought up the fact that Crow had earned a Bronze Star as an Army Ranger, and tried to connect that fact to his own late son Beau Biden. Witnesses described the moment as “incoherent” and “unintelligible.” Members were so shocked that they were left “aghast” and could be seen burying their faces in their hands in disbelief.

Another witness described a moment where Biden started yelling at Congressman Crow over the recent NATO summit in Washington D.C., saying “You saw what happened recently in terms of the meeting we had with NATO. I put NATO together.”

“Name me a foreign leader who thinks I’m not the most effective leader in the world on foreign policy,” Biden continued ranting. “Tell me! Tell me who the hell that is! Tell me who put NATO back together! Tell me who enlarged NATO, tell me who did the Pacific basin! Tell me who did something that you’ve never done with your Bronze Star like my son — and I’m proud of your leadership, but guess what, what’s happening, we’ve got Korea and Japan working together, I put AUKUS together, anyway!”

The leaked details of the call only further highlight Biden’s growing unpopularity with his own party. Following his disastrous debate performance against Donald Trump, calls increased dramatically for Biden to withdraw from the race due to concerns over his cognitive decline and physical weaknesses.

After President Trump narrowly survived an assassination attempt on Saturday that caused his popularity to skyrocket even further, more Democrats called on Biden to drop out. Among these are Congressman Adam Schiff (D-Calif.), one of the most prominent Democrats in the House and the frontrunner for the U.S. Senate election in California this year. Additional reports claim that both Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) and House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-N.Y.) have privately urged Biden to withdraw from the race. Additionally, plans to force a Biden nomination through early, via a virtual nomination ahead of the Democratic National Convention in Chicago next month, were recently scrapped by the Democratic Party.