Speaker Mike Johnson reveals what world leaders are saying about Biden
Concerns about Joe Biden 's fitness for office have gone global, according to Speaker Mike Johnson. The speaker revealed that world leaders he's met with as part of the NATO conference have expressed concerns about the president's cognitive abilities. 'All those NATO leaders are here on the Hill as you know,' Johnson told Fox News 's Laura Ingraham on Wednesday evening. 'These foreign leaders are coming in, prime ministers, heads of state and they are telling us privately that they are deeply concerned.'
Johnson's comments came just after meetings with United Kingdom Prime Minister Keir Starmer and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky. The speaker did not specify which leaders had expressed concerns. Meanwhile, NATO officials and diplomats from across the globe are holding their breath to see how Biden performs at a post-NATO news conference Thursday evening. 'It's a very weird feeling to be in Europe listening to the president of the United States, and you're more stressed about whether he will go off script than being excited to listen to the leader of the free world,' a senior European diplomat told Politico.
'You're worried if he knows which direction he's going or whether he's going to fall or what he's going to forget or if he'll say " North Korea " when he meant " South Korea ." It's just a weird experience.' 'He didn’t look good,' said another Washington-based foreign diplomat of Biden at the NATO conference this week. Johnson called Biden's cognitive decline the 'biggest political cover-up.'
'The Democrats are in total disarray. They don't know what to do. They don't have a plan B, but they know they got a serious problem,' Johnson continued, 'You're right: It's the biggest political cover-up that we have ever seen, maybe in U.S. history, and it's the most consequential, as well.' Thursday evening's press conference is expected the be the most pivotal of his presidency as Biden's campaign attempts to do damage control after the debate last month. Officially 11 House Democrats and one Democratic senator has called on Biden to resign - and many more are waiting to see his debate performance before deciding whether to do so.
Biden avoided a near disastrous slip-up during his welcome speech to NATO leaders on Tuesday. The president, visibly reading from the teleprompter, read a three-word instruction to himself as he awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom to NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg - but was saved from utter embarrassment by the audience applause. 'Ask the military aide,' Biden said while preparing to award Stoltenberg the nation's highest civilian honor.
Biden then quickly caught himself, while the crowd drowned up the flub with cheers. 'Military come forward,' he said. He proceeded to award the medal, hanging it around Stoltenberg's neck, without incident. The president attempted to reassure the public during a recent interview with George Stephanopoulos on ABC News. Biden sounded raspy as he insisted his poor debate performance was due to a simple cold.
At one point during the Stephanopoulos interview, Biden said he couldn't remember whether he even watched the debate performance after it took place. 'I don't think I did, no,' Biden stated. A strong performance at the NATO summit will result in a sigh of relief from allies worried a Trump victory could lead to a return of U.S. isolation. A mistake will send their blood pressure skyrocketing.
Trump has suggested that in a second term he would not defend NATO allies who didn't pay their full dues - 2% of their respective GDP. The former president also has questioned the amount of aid to the Ukraine. Both of these prospects have made NATO leaders uneasy. Biden noted that he has gotten more NATO members to increase their dues. 'The year 2020 year was the year I was elected president. Only nine NATO allies are spending 2% of their defense GDP,' he said. 'This year 23 will spend at least 2%.'
'And some will spend more than that. And the remaining countries that have not yet reached that milestone will get there. This is remarkable progress. Proof our commitment is broad and deep.' Biden also announced the U.S. and additional NATO allies will send Ukraine dozens of air defense systems in the coming months, including at least four of the powerful Patriot systems that Kyiv has been seeking. 'Russia will not prevail,' the president said. 'Ukraine can and will stop Putin,' Biden noted.
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