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No wonder California Governor Gavin Newsom avoided the cameras after Democrat governors held an emergency meeting with Joe Biden at the White House Wednesday evening to see if he is up to remaining the Democrats’ presidential nominee. Biden told the governors he was staying in the race.

The New York Times reports Biden told the nearly two dozen governors, about half of whom attended in person with others attending via video conference, that his health is fine, “It’s just my brain.”

The Biden campaign spun the remark as being a joke, in comments to the Times afterwards.


Dr. Jill Biden, Ed.D., helps Joe Biden off the stage after the presidential debate in Atlanta last Thursday. Image via the Trump campaign.

Biden is also reported to have said he needs to get more sleep, work fewer hours and not do events after 8 p.m.

Biden has blamed his disastrous debate performance against President Trump last Thursday on jet lag from two trips to Europe last month and a fundraising trip to California. Biden spent the week before the debate in seclusion at Camp David where he took afternoon naps during debate prep sessions.

Biden also blamed a cold for his poor debate showing. He told the governors that he had been examined by a doctor after the debate–a direct contradiction of what the White House had been telling reporters, that he had not been seen by a doctor after the debate.

New York Times excerpt:

President Biden told a gathering of Democratic governors that he needs to get more sleep and work fewer hours, including curtailing events after 8 p.m., according to two people who participated in the meeting and several others briefed on his comments.

…Mr. Biden said that he told his staff he needed to get more sleep, multiple people familiar with what took place in the meeting said. He repeatedly referenced pushing too hard and not listening to his team about his schedule, and said he needed to work fewer hours and avoid events after 8 p.m., according to one of the people familiar with what took place at the meeting.

After Gov. Josh Green of Hawaii, a physician, asked Mr. Biden questions about the status of his health, Mr. Biden replied that his health was fine. “It’s just my brain,” he added, according to three people familiar with what took place — a remark that some in the room took as a joke but at least one governor did not and was puzzled by.

Jen O’Malley Dillon, Mr. Biden’s campaign chair, who attended the meeting, said in a statement that he had said, “All kidding aside,” a recollection confirmed by another person briefed on the meeting. Ms. O’Malley Dillon added: “He was clearly making a joke.”

CNN confirmed the Times report:

The White House confirmed to reporters Thursday that Biden had been seen by a doctor in the days after the debate, CNN’s M.J. Lee reported, “White House spox Andrew Bates confirms Biden was examined by his doctor in the days following last week’s debate “to check on his cold and was recovering well.”

Lee noted White House Press Secretary Karine Jean Pierre on Wednesday had dismissed the notion of Biden even needing a doctor, “He did not get checked out by the doctor. It’s a cold, guys. It’s a cold. And I know that it affects everybody differently. We have all had colds. And so no, he was not checked by the doctor.”

Part of the job of being president is being on call and prepared to take the most difficult decisions 24 hours a day, 365 days a year. By Joe Biden’s own admission he is not up to the job now, let alone for another four years.