Axios reporter says White House did 'not tell the truth' for years to media, themselves about Biden's age
An Axios reporter argued that the Biden White House would "gaslight" about the president’s age-related "limitations" for years, flaws he says were exposed for all to see at Thursday's 2024 election debate rematch.
Many reporters have called out the White House for allowing fewer opportunities for the press to question President Biden directly than any other president and his performance at the debate only added more fuel to the fire.
"Well, listen, I’ve covered the Biden White House now for three-and-a-half years," Axios national political reporter Alex Thompson said Friday on CNN. "And as someone that’s reported on his age quite a few times, I can tell you that the White House's response every single time that it's come up for three-and-a-half years has been to deflect, to gaslight, to not tell the truth, not just to reporters, not just to other Democrats, but even at times to themselves about the president’s limitations at his age."
Thompson then addressed how the White House appears to have deliberately protected Biden by hiding his limitations from the press and the American public.
"There’s a reason why he has not done as many interviews or press conferences as any president in decades," the Axios reporter said. "There’s a reason he does not do events almost ever before 10:00 A.M. and is rarely on camera after 6 P.M., and the reason is because he has limitations."
He concluded, "He is 81 years old. But the problem was, they were not forthright with other Democrats. They weren’t at times forthright with themselves. And that is why Democrats are in full freakout mode, because what they saw is finally what they have been obscuring."
Thompson, along with fellow Axios reporter Hans Nichols, had written a piece after the debate headlined, "Biden's debate is a ‘DEFCON 1’ moment for Democrats" where they said, "Voters, Democrats very much included, have consistently worried that 81-year-old Joe Biden is too old for the job. Last night, Biden showed why."
Fox News Digital reached out to the White House for comment and did not receive an immediate reply.