An article from the Wall Street Journal titled “Behind Closed Doors, Biden Shows Signs of Slipping” is causing controversy in the media and among lawmakers. The article lists examples of slow and inaccurate responses President Joe Biden has allegedly made behind the scenes, according to anonymous sources. However, it is unclear who the Journal spoke to, which is sparking most of the debate.
CNN, a left-leaning news outlet, released an article in response to the WSJ piece. The headline reads “The Wall Street Journal’s story about Biden’s mental acuity suffers from glaring problems,” and the first sentence is, “The Wall Street Journal owes its readers — and the public — better.”
In contrast, the New York Post, a right-leaning news outlet, published an article called “Biden, 81, showing signs of decline as politicians and aides detail use of cheat sheets, closing eyes for extended periods of time: ‘Not the same person.’”
“President Biden’s cognitive decline has become obvious and concerning to several high-ranking congressional lawmakers,” the New York Post said in its article.
MSNBC, a typically left-leaning source, reported the piece on its show “Morning Joe.” The show discussed “why McCarthy may not be reliable in his remarks about the president.”
“What I find so shocking about this article is they go to McCarthy as their main source and other House Republicans,” Joe Scarborough, a cohost and former House Republican, said. “They’re using people around Johnson and McCarthy to do this Trump hit piece on Joe Biden.”
Fox News, a right-leaning source, reported on the piece. One host, Jesse Watters, seemingly defended the piece, emphasizing that there were more sources.
“Forty-five Republicans and Democrats went on the record here,” Watters said. “This isn’t like McCarthy just spilled the beans to the Journal. This is 45 people saying what its like behind the scenes.”
The Journal said it spoke with a mix of Republicans and Democrats. It notes that most of those who said Biden performed poorly were Republicans. The paper also said “the White House kept close tabs” on the Democrats it spoke with.
One Democrat, Rep. Gregory Meeks, D-N.Y., said the White House told him to give the Journal a call back to emphasize Biden’s strength.
Democratic lawmakers and the White House are criticizing the piece.
“Many of us spent time with the Journal to share on the record our first-hand experiences with the president, where we see his wisdom, experience, strength and strategic thinking,” former Speaker of the House Rep. Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., posted on X. “Instead, the Journal ignored testimony by Democrats, focused on attacks by Republicans and printed a hit piece.”
The White House also released a statement.
“Congressional Republicans, foreign leaders and nonpartisan national-security experts have made clear in their own words that President Biden is a savvy and effective leader,” the statement said.
The Journal article did acknowledge lawmakers’ positive reviews of Biden, however, it was located towards the end of the article.
One of the Journal’s reporters, Siobhan Hughes, went on CNN to respond to the criticism the article was receiving.
“The White House position has been if only you could see the president behind closed doors, if only you could see what we see, he’s as sharp as a tack,” Hughes said. “And so this aims to find out, well, what is the president like behind closed doors? Is what’s happening there different from what the public sees? And the answer is, not very much.”
According to polls, the majority of Americans consider Biden’s age a concern.
