Speaking during a recent fundraiser in McLean, Virginia, President Joe Biden joked that he “almost fell asleep” on stage at the debate, blaming his foreign travel in the weeks leading up to the debate for his poor performance. His comments were so ridiculous that even CNN was laughing at his ridiculous excuse for his poor performance.
As background, President Biden did travel a good bit leading up to the June 27 debate. Particularly, he was in France for the D-Day anniversary in early June and then traveled to Italy for the G7 conference. In both instances, he had his awkward moment. However, he was at Camp David for a full seven days before the debate, providing him with ample time to rest up.
In any case, Biden said, during the McLean fundraiser, “I decided to travel around the world a couple of times … shortly before the debate.” He continued, “I didn’t listen to my staff … and then I almost fell asleep onstage.” He then added that the traveling comment is his “explanation” for what happened, saying, “It’s not an excuse but an explanation.”
Commenting on the matter, CNN’s MJ Lee, a senior White House correspondent for the network, mocked the excuse during an appearance with Erin Burnett, saying, “Apparently, the president apologized to everyone in the room, saying this is not an excuse, but it is an explanation. And he blamed the extensive foreign travel that he did in the lead up to the CNN debate for his poor performance.”
She continued, saying, “Just a reminder for everyone, he did go to France for the D-day anniversary, and then he turned right back around and went to Italy for the G7 Summit, and he told the room, ‘I didn’t listen to my staff,’ so the suggestion there being his staff did not think this was a good idea. And then he apparently said, ‘I almost fell asleep on stage.’”
She then tore into the travel excuse for his poor performance and noted that it doesn’t much help Biden, saying, “I just want to unpack this new explanation for a second as the explanation for why his debate performance was so bad. I find it a little bit puzzling, and frankly, I’m not sure that a lot of people are going to find this reassuring.”
Continuing on that same point, Lee argued, “If anything, some folks might hear this and be, you know, even more concerned. Yes, there were two foreign trips in the lead-up to the June 27 CNN debate, but he returned from Italy on June 15. The debate, again, was on June 27, so we’re talking about roughly 12 days in between when he was back in the States.”
Noting that he was then at Camp David resting for a week leading up to the debate, she said, “And remember a part of those 12 days, about a full week he actually spent with his advisers at Camp David for the sole purpose of really focusing on debate prep. So why is the President falling asleep on the debate stage at the hours of 9 pm to 10:30.”
Watch her here: