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Biden's Team Managed His Decline, Withheld 5% Election Chance from Him, Says Schumer

Jan 18, 2025, 07:05 AM

In the final days of Joe Biden's presidency, reports have emerged detailing how his inner circle managed his physical and cognitive decline. According to The New York Times, Biden's team took several measures to shield him from scrutiny and criticism. These included replacing the steps on Air Force One with shorter ones to prevent stumbles and adjusting his schedule to ensure he was coherent during meetings. Additionally, Biden's pollsters withheld information from him, including the assessment that he had only a 5% chance of prevailing against Donald J. Trump in the election, a fact that was reportedly news to the president when shared by Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer. The New York Times report also highlighted that Biden's family and advisers recognized his frailty to a greater degree than publicly acknowledged and worked to manage his decline, including using a teleprompter even for small fundraising events and delaying sharing negative poll data with him.