Former United States House Speaker Nancy Pelosi has said she was unaware of the extent of former President Joe Biden’s reported cognitive decline while he was in office, but maintained that people close to him who knew about his condition should have acted on the information.
Pelosi made the remarks during POLITICO’s California Agenda: Sacramento Summit, reopening debate over what senior Democratic officials and members of Biden’s inner circle knew about concerns surrounding his age and mental fitness during his presidency and 2024 re-election campaign.
“I didn’t know, but I do think that those who did know should have acted upon that information, whatever that means,” Pelosi said.
She added that there appeared to have been disagreement over who within Biden’s circle was aware of his condition.
“There was the staff saying the family knew, the family saying the staff knew, I don’t know,” she said, adding that those with knowledge “should have acted sooner.”
Pelosi explained that after Democrats lost control of the House of Representatives following the 2022 midterm elections and she stepped down from the speakership, her interactions with Biden became considerably less frequent.
She said she had previously seen the president regularly while serving as Speaker but saw him only a few times during the period leading up to the 2024 presidential election.
According to Pelosi, it was Biden’s widely criticised June 27, 2024 presidential debate performance against Donald Trump that brought the concerns surrounding his condition into sharper focus for her.
“When you think of the debate and how sad that was, that’s really when we learned,” Pelosi said, adding that she believed Biden had experienced “sort of ups and downs.”
Pelosi also disclosed that she had encouraged Biden to undergo or publicise medical testing capable of reassuring voters that he was fit to serve another presidential term.
She recalled telling Biden that the American public would want to see diagnostic evidence demonstrating his ability to serve for another four years.
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Biden, according to Pelosi, responded that performing the duties of the presidency amounted to being tested every day, but she maintained that voters wanted something more diagnostic.
Concerns over Biden’s age and fitness intensified following his debate performance against Trump, leading to mounting pressure from senior Democrats and eventually his withdrawal from the presidential race in July 2024. He subsequently endorsed then-Vice President Kamala Harris for the Democratic nomination.
Pelosi was widely reported at the time to have played an influential role behind the scenes as Democrats debated whether Biden should remain in the race, although she has rejected suggestions that she directly ordered or explicitly demanded that he withdraw.
Her latest remarks place responsibility on those who had closer and more regular access to Biden during the period, with Pelosi maintaining that she herself did not possess enough information to conclude that he was experiencing a significant decline.
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