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By Ewan Palmer
News Reporter
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A Democratic governor has brushed off concerns about President Joe Biden, who said in a meeting that his "brain" was his only health issue amid his re-election bid.
Hawaii Governor Josh Green told CNN that people need to "lighten up" and that the remark from Biden was just a "self-deprecating joke."
Biden is said to have made the comment during a meeting of Democratic governors at the White House on Wednesday, where several attendees announced their ongoing support for the president in the 2024 race despite his debate performance against Donald Trump last month.
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"Biden was just kidding with us and frankly, and I'm saying this as a physician, it is a significant ability to cognitively still be able to make a self-deprecating joke," Green said. "So if anything, people do need to lighten up."
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The Context
There have been rising calls for Biden to end his 2024 campaign in the wake of his performance in the June 27 CNN debate, where Biden gave a number of rambling answers and at times seemed to trail off and fail to finish his sentences.
Biden had already faced concerns that he is too old or is lacking the cognitive ability to run for a second term in office prior to the debate.
Biden and his team have frequently dismissed suggestions that he will end his 2024 campaign.
What We Know
On Thursday, CNN and The New York Times reported, citing unnamed sources, what went on during the White House meeting between Biden and the Democratic governors.
It is claimed the president said that his plan going forward is to stop scheduling events after 8 p.m. so that he can get more sleep.
Biden is also reported to have made a joke about his health, telling the governors: "I'm fine—I don't know about my brain, though."
Jen O'Malley Dillon, Biden's campaign chair, said the president was "clearly making a joke and then said, 'All kidding aside.'"
A similar defense has now been made by Green during his appearance on CNN.
"To all America, people have to be able to take a joke. This is absolutely a self-deprecating joke, which is very common for the president to make," Green said.
"The difference is, Joe Biden makes a self-deprecating joke because he's comfortable about that, as opposed to what we would hear from the former president would probably be saying things like, 'Trump's brain is great, Trump can pass any test, Trump's brain passed the MRI scan.' Biden was just kidding with us."
Green added that the public should expect Biden to "slip up periodically in the next couple of weeks or months," but he is still a better candidate than Trump to be in the White House.
"The actual human underneath the surface are very different," Green said. "And I would ask Republicans and Independents and Democrats to look beneath the surface because that's what's necessary to guide this country on every decision."
The White House has been contacted for comment via email.
Views
Kevin Munoz, a spokesperson for the Biden campaign, said regarding the president's plans on getting more sleep: "President Bush went to bed at 9, and President Obama made dinner at 6:30.
"Normal presidents strike a balance, and so does Joe Biden. Hardly the same rigor as Donald Trump who spends half of his day ranting on Truth Social about plans that would cause a recession and other half golfing."
Former Trump White House adviser Stephen Miller said: "Kamala [Harris] kept the truth about Joe's condition a secret from the American People.
"This makes her THE central accomplice to arguably the biggest scandal in the history of the U.S. presidency."
What's Next
Biden is on course to be confirmed as his party's 2024 nominee at the Democratic National Committee in Chicago in August.
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