President Trump late Thursday night challenged former Vice President Joe Biden to take a cognitive test, claiming the presumptive Democratic presidential nominee could not pass the test he “aced.”
“He should give it a try,” Trump tweeted.
Trump has previously questioned Biden’s mental fitness, repeatedly referring to him by the nickname “Sleepy Joe” and suggesting that the former vice president has low intelligence.
The Washington Post reported last month that Trump had made comments to several White House aides hinting that he did not believe Biden would pass the cognitive exam administered by his White House physician two years ago as part of an annual physical.
The Trump campaign and allies of the president point to instances in which Biden has stumbled over words or committed verbal gaffes as evidence of cognitive decline.
“For someone so obsessed with appearing strong, Donald Trump shows us every day just how weak he is,” a Biden campaign press secretary said in a statement last month, adding: “Donald Trump doesn’t care about the health or economic prosperity of the American people. He only cares about himself.”
Biden, who is 77 and would be the oldest president ever sworn in for a first term in office if he wins in November, said earlier this week that he “can hardly wait” to test his cognitive abilities against Trump in the fall debates.
“I’ve been tested and I’m constantly tested,” Biden said. “Look, all you gotta do is watch me, and I can hardly wait to compare my cognitive capability to the cognitive capability of the man I’m running against.”
Biden questioned Trump’s own mental fitness, pointing to the president denying any knowledge of intelligence reports indicating that Russia offered bounties to Taliban-linked militants as an incentive to kill U.S. troops in Afghanistan.
“This president … he talks about cognitive ability. He doesn’t seem cognitively aware of what’s going on,” Biden said. “He either reads and/or gets briefed on important issues and he forgets it, or he doesn’t think it’s necessary that he needs to know it.”
Trump, who is 74, has faced scrutiny over his own physical well-being at times, including after his recent appearance at West Point where he appeared to walk gingerly down a ramp after giving a speech.
The conservative anti-Trump group Lincoln Project has repeatedly run ads mocking the president’s health, including for his speaking and walking style.
“Something’s wrong with Donald Trump. He’s shaky, weak, trouble speaking, trouble walking. So why aren’t we talking about this?” a narrator asks in the 45-second clip. “The most powerful office in the world needs more than a weak, unfit, shaky president. Trump doesn’t have the strength to lead, nor the character to admit it.”
Trump later pushed back on speculation he was unwell, saying he did not want to fall and give fodder to the “Fake News.”
“The ramp that I descended after my West Point Commencement speech was very long & steep, had no handrail and, most importantly, was very slippery,” Trump tweeted. “The last thing I was going to do is ‘fall’ for the Fake News to have fun with. Final ten feet I ran down to level ground. Momentum!”