Joe Biden got saucy with a reporter who asked him about questions about his mental capabilities.
‘You can see that I was mentally incompetent, I can’t walk, and yet I can still take both of them on,’ he humorously remarked to a female journalist, bending down to address her after his speech at a Memorial Day service.
The former president dismissed claims from a recently published book about a cover-up regarding his mental health and dismissed Democratic discussions suggesting he shouldn’t have pursued re-election, stating: ‘If that’s the case, why didn’t they challenge me back then? I could have defeated them.’
‘I don’t have any regrets,’ he added.
These comments were President Biden’s first public statements since being diagnosed with cancer. His voice was notably hoarse as he addressed the press at Veterans Park in Wilmington, Delaware, where he regularly attends to pay tribute to veterans each year.
He and his family are optimistic about his diagnosis, Biden said, adding he was taking pills as part of his treatment.
‘The expectation is we’re going to be able to beat this,’ he said. ‘It’s not in any organ. … my bones are strong.’
‘I feel good,’ he said.
Earlier Friday, he and Jill Biden attended mass in Wilmington, Del., on Friday to mark the 10th anniversary of the death of their son Beau.
The former first couple were seen at St. Joseph on the Brandywine, the Catholic Church were Beau is buried.
The public sighting came as the former first lady is facing calls to testify about her role in an alleged coverup of Joe Biden’s health while he was in office.
Beau Biden died of glioblastoma, a very aggressive type of brain cancer, in 2015. The Bidens go to church every year on the anniversary of his death and visit his grave. Joe and Beau Biden used to attend the veterans ceremony together every year. This year Biden brought Beau’s son – his grandson – Little Hunter with him.
Earlier this month Joe Biden announced he’s been diagnosed with an aggressive form of prostate cancer.
The cancer has metastasized, a statement from his office revealed, adding that the family is deciding on treatment options.
The news, along with new reporting about efforts by Biden’s core team of advisors to shield him from scrutiny, has prompted a renewed focus on Biden’s health while in office, as well as the role Biden loyalists played.
The questions resulted from the publication of Jake Tapper and Alex Thompson’s book ‘Original Sin,’ which alleges a cover up of the then-president’s condition.
The book, however, also notes the Biden family wanted to keep Beau Biden’s cancer diagnosis a secret and misled the media about his condition.
‘Beau’s cancer treatment also demonstrated the Biden’s capacity for denial and the lengths they would go to to avoid transparency about health issues, even when the person in question is an elected official, in this case the sitting attorney general of Delaware,’ the book says.
Beau Biden was diagnosed in 2013 after collapsing during a family vacation. He later had surgery to remove a brain tumor.
In September 2013,’ Biden and Beau’s team internally debated how much to disclose about Beau — the vice president’s son and a state’s top law enforcement officer — but ultimately said nothing,’ the book said. ‘In November, Beau told a local reporter he had been given a ‘clean bill of health.’
However, the book says Beau continued to receive treatment and even checked into hospitals under the name George Lincoln in order to shield his real identity.
Joe Biden, who was then vice president, often traveled with his son to support him in his treatment but, according to Tapper and Thompson, ordered his aides to mislead the press and public about his location.
Meanwhile, House Oversight Chairman Rep. James Comer has requested to interview four former Biden aides and former White House physician Dr. Kevin O’Connor about Joe Biden’s health.
And, on Thursday, White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said Jill Biden should be included in that request.
‘Jill Biden was certainly complicit in that cover up,’ Leavitt told said.
‘Frankly, the former first lady should certainly speak up about what she saw in regards to her husband and when she saw and what she knew,’ Leavitt said.
She continued to pile on Jill Biden: ‘She was saying everything is fine. She’s still lying to the American people. She still thinks the American public are so stupid … And frankly, it’s insulting and she needs to answer for it.’
