Former White House Chief Medical Advisor Dr. Anthony Fauci said in a new interview that he has “no doubt” that President Biden is mentally capable of serving as president, amid growing concern among Democrats about the the president’s position as the party’s presumptive nominee.
“In my interactions with him, I have no doubt,” Fauci said of Biden, when asked on CBS News Podcast “The Takeout” with Major Garrett if he has any concerns about the president’s “vigor and mental capacity” to continue in office.
“And I can only speak to my own interactions with him,” Fauci added in the interview released Wednesday.
Fauci — who for nearly four decades served as head of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) — cautioned against drawing any medical conclusions based solely on one event.
Asked if he saw anything “medical alarm[ing]” at the Biden debate last week, Fauci responded, “You know, I can’t say. I think it would be inappropriate to say that, Major, because when you look at someone all at once, you just don’t know what might happen.
“He had a bad cold, you know? Did he take an antihistamine to make him, you know, dizzy, or whatever? We don’t know what happened,” Fauci continued. “And I think it would be unfair and inappropriate to try to diagnose something from just one 90-minute clip.”
Fauci, who retired at the end of Biden’s second year in office, described the president as insightful and curious in his interactions. When asked whether Biden’s debate performance “resembled” what he saw in his interactions with the president, Fauci said, “No, I mean, obviously not.”
“I don’t want to comment on what happened that night, but you know, to me, it seemed like a bad night,” Fauci said, “because my interaction with him was what I described in the book and what happened even after what I described in the book, after I left.”
He called Biden “very probing in his questions, very analytical, very calm about things” and said during briefings that Biden always asked “very relevant questions.”
Fauci continued: “So I have to say that my interactions with him have been very, very positive, across the board.”
The interview comes amid questions about whether Biden should remain at the top of the ticket after his difficult debate last week. Two Democrats have already called for Biden to resign, while others have expressed concern about former President Trump’s ability to defeat Biden in November.
Biden and his team have repeatedly stressed that the president will have four more years in office, dismissing last week’s debate as a poor performance by the commander in chief.
“He knows how to do the job, not because he says so, but because his record proves it. Because for three and a half years, almost four years, the president’s record has been unprecedented, serving the American people,” White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said Wednesday.
This story originally appeared on thehill.com read the full story
