Presumptive Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden said Tuesday that he “can hardly wait” to test his cognitive abilities against those of President Trump in the fall debates.
Biden, who is 77 and would be the oldest president ever sworn in for a first term in office if he wins in November, was asked by a reporter at a press conference in Wilmington, Del., if he has been tested for cognitive decline.
“I’ve been tested and I’m constantly tested,” Biden responded. “Look, all you gotta do is watch me, and I can hardly wait to compare my cognitive capability to the cognitive capability of the man I’m running against.”
Trump and his campaign have questioned Biden’s mental fitness, pointing to instances in which he has stumbled over words or committed verbal gaffes as evidence of cognitive decline.
Biden on Tuesday questioned Trump’s mental fitness, pointing to the president denying any knowledge of intelligence reports indicating that Russia offered bounties to Taliban-linked militants as an incentive to kill U.S. troops in Afghanistan.
“This president … he talks about cognitive ability. He doesn’t seem cognitively aware of what’s going on,” Biden said. “He either reads and or gets briefed on important issues and he forgets it, or he doesn’t think it’s necessary that he needs to know it.”