President Biden told Democratic governors that he consulted a doctor after his shaky debate performance last week and was given a clean bill of health.
The comments, first reported by Politicoapparently contradict White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre, who told reporters Tuesday that Biden had not had a medical exam since his February physical.
White House spokesman Andrew Bates confirmed to The Hill that Biden went to the doctor days after last week’s debate to check for a cold and is now “recovering well.”
Biden’s campaign said the president was hampered by a cold during the debate, during which he spoke in a low, hoarse voice and struggled to unite ideas or refute former President Trump’s many false statements. His performance raised concerns among some Democrats about the president’s ability to serve a second term.
Jean-Pierre added on Wednesday that Biden still had a “lingering cold” at the time but was generally doing well, saying he was “ready to go.”
The governors said after the meeting that they were calm about Biden’s campaign and fully supported him.
Biden admitted he faltered in the debate in a Wisconsin radio interview that aired Thursday.
“I had a bad night,” he said. “I screwed up. I made a mistake. But I learned from my dad that when you get knocked down, just get back up. And you know, we’re going to win this election. We’re going to beat Donald Trump as much as we did in 2020.”
Some of the country’s top media outlets, two House Democrats and others, called on Biden to drop the presidential campaign after the debate and let a different Democrat take on Trump.
The president argued that voters should not be discouraged by his debate performance, but rather look to his long record of accomplishments.
“I didn’t have a good debate. It’s 90 minutes on stage,” he said. “Look what I’ve done in 3.5 years.”
The race for the White House remains tight in national polls. Trump has a 0.9 percent lead over Biden in The Hill/Decision Desk HQ average of polls.
This story originally appeared on thehill.com read the full story
