President Biden likely suffers from a “cognitive disease” and should not only drop out of the presidential race but resign immediately, according to the former White House physician and current Republican Congressman who served former Presidents Barack Obama and Donald Trump.
“This is a national security issue,” Texas Rep. Ronny Jackson told The Post after Biden’s disastrous debate performance. “As an American, I think he needs to step down and he needs to be immediately removed from office.”
Before entering politics, Jackson served as Obama’s personal physician between 2013 and 2016.
He served as Trump’s between 2016 and 2018.
Trump raised Jackson’s name during the Thursday debate, when the issue of their respective cognitive functions was raised.
Jackson, a former Navy rear admiral, said Biden’s confused and halting performance during the debate was clear evidence he is suffering from more than just normal aging.
“There is a condition. I don’t know what it is. I am not going to give him a diagnosis. It is more than just age. It is some type of cognitive disease,” Jackson said. “I don’t know if it’s Parkinson’s or Alzheimer’s, I don’t know what it is. There are a lot of diseases out there when folks get older which can cause cognitive decline.”
Jackson previously called on Biden to take a cognitive test — something Biden has not done as president.
“You aren’t going to hear me talk about cognitive tests anymore. He got one [Thursday] night in front of millions of viewers and he failed miserably,” Jackson told The Post.
Jackson said if Biden does not leave of his own accord, his cabinet secretaries should consider invoking the 25th amendment, which allows the president to be removed if they deem him “unable to discharge the powers and duties of his office” and replaced by the vice president.
Biden and Trump, at ages 81 and 78 respectively, are the two oldest candidates to run for president and the issue of their mental capacities have dominated news headlines for months — and was a central question from CNN debate moderators.
“I took two tests, cognitive tests, I aced them, both of them as you know. We made them public. [Biden] took none. I’d like to see him take one,” Trump said Thursday, while Biden looked on with a bemused expression.
Jackson said he never identified any cognitive issues with Trump.
“Anybody can sit down and talk to Trump for hours on end; he’s very sharp, has an incredible memory. There has been no change whatsoever in his cognitive abilities since I have known him,” Jackson said.
Biden would be 86 at the end of a potential second term.
The president’s shaky debate performance prompted a wave of new questions from close allies about whether he should continue to seek reelection.
Team Biden has vowed to stay in the race and has already insisted he will go ahead with September’s planned ABC-sponsored debate.
Former President Obama also lent his support to Biden Friday, in an effort to blunt speculation from eager partisans.
“Bad debate nights happen,” he said in an X post.
