Hakeem Jeffries, the Democratic House minority leader, said Mr Biden had been “incredibly strong, forceful and decisive” at the meeting. Other officials put forward by the White House said people did not have trouble hearing what he said.
In talks about raising the government’s debt ceiling in May last year, Kevin McCarthy, then House speaker, and two others familiar with the discussion said there were points when Mr Biden mumbled and relied on notes.
“I used to meet with him when he was vice-president. I’d go to his house,” Mr McCarthy, who has since left Congress, said. “He’s not the same person.”
At the time, Mr McCarthy said he enjoyed his meeting with the president and praised his team as “very professional, very smart, very tough at the same time”.
‘Political tactic’
“Congressional Republicans, foreign leaders and non-partisan national security experts have made clear in their own words that President Biden is a savvy and effective leader who has a deep record of legislative accomplishment,” Mr Bates said.
“Now, in 2024, House Republicans are making false claims as a political tactic that flatly contradicts previous statements made by themselves and their colleagues.”
Questions have been raised about Mr Biden’s mental acuity for years. Earlier this year, he repeatedly confused European leaders with long-dead counterparts, referring to Angela Merkel as Helmut Kohl and Emmanuel Macron as Francois Mitterrand.
In February, a controversial report by Robert Hur, a special prosecutor appointed by the Justice Department, characterised Mr Biden as a “well-meaning, elderly man with a poor memory”.
Mr Hur claimed that the 81-year-old could not remember when his son, Beau Biden, died of brain cancer in one damaging section that drew a furious response from the president.
A transcript of their conversation later released showed that Mr Biden recalled that his son died on May 30, but did not immediately recall the year.