Biden’s team walked back idea of a public cognitive test in 2024 over optics concerns, new book says

Aides for Joe Biden considered having the then-81-year-old president undergo a cognitive test to prove his mental acuity — but ultimately decided the publicity of him taking it would cause more harm than good, a new book says.

In the upcoming book 2024: How Trump Retook the White House and the Democrats Lost America, the authors — Tyler Pager of the New York Times, Josh Dawsey of the Wall Street Journal and Isaac Arnsdorf of the Washington Post — shed light on the critical few months before the president belatedly bowed out of his 2024 run.

Although his aides were certain Biden would pass the test, some feared that the optics of him taking the test could raise concerns over his mental sharpness, according to the book, obtained by the New York Times.

Biden’s team discussed the matter in February 2024 — the same month that Special Counsel Robert Hur described him as a “sympathetic, well-meaning, elderly man with a poor memory” in his report on Biden’s handling of classified documents. After the report’s release, the then-president insisted, “My memory is fine.”

Months later, though, the world became worried about Biden’s mental fitness after his fumbled debate performance against Donald Trump.

In the wake of Biden’s performance at the first debate, donors, media pundits, editorial boards and some Democrats urged the president to drop out of the 2024 race. Trump lied 30 times in the 90-minute debate, a CNN fact-check at the time found. Still, all eyes were on Biden. Later that month, the president quit the race.

Even before the debate, Trump, although just three years younger than his Democratic rival, frequently played into Biden’s cognitive abilities on the campaign trail in both 2020 and 2024.

In 2020, Trump bragged about taking a cognitive test of his own. In an interview, he boasted about his memory recall of five words: “person, woman, man, camera, TV.”

He claimed the test was usually difficult for others, although not for him: “If you get it in order you get extra points. [The doctor] said nobody gets it in order, it’s actually not that easy, but for me, it was easy.”

Back in 2022, some prominent Democrats grew concerned about Biden’s age, citing his frequent gaffes and falls.

David Axelrod, the chief strategist for Barack Obama’s campaigns, told the Times at the time: “The presidency is a monstrously taxing job and the stark reality is the president would be closer to 90 than 80 at the end of a second term, and that would be a major issue.”

Although he praised Biden for “restoring decency” to the White House, passing notable legislation, and leading the country through the Covid-19 pandemic, Axelrod said he doesn’t get the credit he deserves because of how he’s perceived. “He looks his age and isn’t as agile in front of a camera as he once was, and this has fed a narrative about competence that isn’t rooted in reality,” he said.