President Biden told a gathering of Democratic governors that he needed to get more sleep and work fewer hours, including limiting events after 8 p.m., according to two people who attended the meeting and several others briefed on his comments.
Wednesday’s comments were a clear admission of fatigue from the 81-year-old president during a meeting intended to reassure more than two dozen of his top supporters that he still has a handle on his job and is capable of mounting a determined campaign against it start former President Donald J. Trump.
Mr. Biden’s comments about needing more rest came shortly after The New York Times reported that current and former officials had noted that the president’s failures had become more frequent and pronounced in recent months.
But Mr. Biden told governors, some of whom were at the White House while others attended virtually, that he remained in the race.
He described his extensive travel abroad in the weeks leading up to the debate, which the White House and its allies have cited in recent days as a reason for his hesitant demeanor during the debate. Biden’s campaign team originally blamed it on a cold and made a series of social media posts around the middle of the debate questioning why Biden was having problems.
Mr. Biden said he told his staff that he needed more sleep, several people familiar with what happened at the meeting said. According to one of the people familiar with what happened at the meeting, he repeatedly said he pushed too hard and didn’t listen to his team about his schedule, saying he needed to work fewer hours and avoid events that took place after 20 o’clock should be scheduled.
After Gov. Josh Green of Hawaii, a doctor, asked Mr. Biden questions about his health, Mr. Biden responded that his health was fine. “It’s just my brain,” he added, according to three people familiar with the event – a remark that some in the room took as a joke, including New York Gov. Kathy Hochul, according to a person close to her . But at least one governor did not and was confused about it.
Jen O’Malley Dillon, Mr. Biden’s campaign manager, who attended the meeting, said in a statement that he said, “Just kidding aside,” a recollection that was confirmed by another person briefed on the meeting . Ms O’Malley Dillon added: “He was clearly joking.”
Kevin Munoz, a spokesman for the Biden campaign, said of the president’s comments about more sleep and less late work: “President Bush went to bed at 9 a.m. and President Obama made dinner at 6:30 p.m.” Normal presidents find one Balance, and Joe Biden too. Hardly the same rigor as Donald Trump, who spends half his day ranting on Truth Social about plans that would trigger a recession and the other half playing golf.”
Mr. Biden made two trips abroad in the weeks leading up to the debate, but then spent a week at Camp David with a group of advisers in preparation for the debate. A person close to Mr. Biden said his comment about sleep and work hours reflected the fact that he did a lot of official work in addition to campaign activity during the practice sessions that took place immediately after foreign trips.
Several governors who attended the meeting subsequently expressed dismay that there had been little debate about whether Mr Biden should continue his 2024 presidential campaign – a topic they raised during a call the governors had among themselves on Monday. discussed in detail.
Despite some private concerns about Mr. Biden continuing the campaign, none of the governors — some of whom are named as possible Biden successors — directly said they should drop out of the race, according to several people briefed on the meeting.
Gov. JB Pritzker of Illinois, a staunch Biden supporter, asked at the start of the meeting about the president’s plans for the rest of the campaign, according to two people briefed on the meeting.
Other participants at the meeting noted this in their comments. Toward the end, Gov. Jared Polis of Colorado, who attended virtually, told the president that he had heard a wave of wishes from various people for Mr. Biden to end his campaign, according to two people briefed on the call.
Two other governors, Janet Mills of Maine and Michelle Lujan Grisham of New Mexico, also expressed concerns. Ms. Mills said people believed Mr. Biden was not ready to run, and Ms. Lujan Grisham said she was worried the president could lose her state, according to two of the people briefed.
Some governors were more explicit about themselves. Gov. Maura Healey of Massachusetts, although she did not speak during the Wednesday meeting with Mr. Biden, said during a Monday call with other governors about the situation that she had told Jeff Zients, the White House chief of staff, that the president was political, according to two people , who took part in this conversation, said his position was “irretrievable” after his disastrous performance in the debate.
Mr Biden has admitted to two allies that he knows he may not be able to salvage his candidacy for a second term if he cannot prove his abilities to voters after the debate. In a call Wednesday before meeting with governors, he tried to reassure worried campaign aides and said he was in the race to remain.
But the fact that Mr. Biden began the conversation with governors by declaring he would move on left some participants feeling put off any further discussion of the state of affairs.
Mr. Biden told a Milwaukee radio station in an interview published Wednesday that he had “a bad night.” In the recorded interview with radio host Earl Ingram, Mr. Biden added: “The fact is, I screwed up. I made a mistake.”
Mr. Biden also told governors that he had been checked by his doctor sometime in the days after the debate for the cold he was suffering from and that he was doing well, several people familiar with the event said. Politico previously reported on Mr. Biden’s examination, which the White House said took place on Monday, was brief and did not constitute a full physical examination.
A White House spokesman, Andrew Bates, confirmed that Mr. Biden had visited the White House doctor to check on the cold. But on Friday, White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said the opposite, telling reporters that Mr. Biden had not had any medical exams since February.
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2024-07-05 00:04:19
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