White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre issued a tough defense of President Biden’s “ability” on Monday, his 81st birthday, when asked about growing concerns surrounding his age.
“I would pit the president’s stamina, the president’s wisdom, his ability to get this done on behalf of the American people against anyone, anyone, any day of the week,” Jean-Pierre told Fox News’ Mark Meredith during the White House press briefing. In response to a question about former Obama advisor David Axelrod raising the issue of Biden’s age.
Earlier this month, Axelrod suggested it might be “prudent” for Biden to withdraw from the 2024 presidential race in the wake of harsh polling that found him losing to former President Donald Trump by as much as 10 points in five battleground states.
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White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre and President Joe Biden. (Getty Images)
Axelrod said Biden’s “biggest liability” to voters is his age. He said that while he should be “proud of his accomplishments,” the country has too much at stake to risk losing to Trump in the next election.
Axelrod doubled down on his criticism earlier Monday, even after Biden called him a “prick.”
“I don’t care if they think I’m a prick, that’s fine,” Axelrod told New York Times columnist Maureen Dowd. “I hope they don’t think the polls are wrong, because they’re not.”
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David Axelrod speaks on stage at Mainstage Talk: Ending Stigma: From Silence to Solutions during the 2023 World Mental Health Day Festival organized by the Healthy Minds Project at Hudson Yards on October 10, 2023 in New York City. (Brian Bader/Getty Images for the Healthy Minds Project)
However, Jean-Pierre told Fox during the press conference that there was “no alarm” going on behind the scenes at the White House despite those age concerns.
She said: “No, there is no alarm going on behind the scenes. I can only speak behind the scenes here. There is no alarm going on behind the scenes. And I certainly will not comment on everyone who has something to say.”
“Also, that’s not my job. It’s not my job to think things through or to tell people what to think, right? Whether it’s the American people over there or, you know, a political analyst, or as is the case with your question about David Axelrod,” she said. “It’s not appropriate for me to talk about that.”
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President Joe Biden delivers his remarks during a joint news conference with UK Prime Minister Rishi Sunak in the East Room of the White House on June 08, 2023 in Washington, DC. (Kevin Deitch/Getty Images)
Jean-Pierre went on to say that the White House’s view is that it is not about Biden’s age, but rather his “experience.”
“This is what we believe. And as they say, the proof is there. The president has used his experience to pass more partisan legislation recently than any other president. That’s just a fact. And that’s something we’ve seen this year. The president is doing it, and it’s because of his experience,” she added. … So what we’re saying is we have to judge him by what he did, not by his numbers.”
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Fox News’ Hannah Banrick contributed to this report.