President Biden “lost focus” during discussions at the G7 summit in Italy this week, and a diplomatic insider said the commander in chief was “the worst he has ever been.”
Another member of a non-American delegation told The Sun on Friday that the 81-year-old’s public missteps on the first day of the meeting were “embarrassing.”
Biden has joined the annual meeting of leaders of the world’s richest democracies – including Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni and British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak – to discuss their countries’ economic and security priorities.
The president, however, has drawn attention for a series of bizarre actions, including awkwardly saluting Meloni as she greeted him on Thursday and walking away from his counterparts during a skydiving demonstration, forcing the host prime minister to lead him back to the group.
Biden apparently had a failure with Meloni even before the summit began on Thursday morning, as he made the Italian prime minister wait twenty minutes before arriving, public broadcaster RAI reported.
When the president actually showed up, Meloni apparently reprimanded him in a humorous attempt, telling Biden, “You shouldn’t keep a woman waiting like that.”
The Sun also reported that Biden showed moments of clarity while discussing urgent matters with the leaders of Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, the United Kingdom and the European Union.
This is consistent with what The Washington Post has learned from White House aides that Biden, who would be 86 when he completes his second term in January 2029, has at times lost concentration in private conversations.
White House deputy press secretary Andrew Bates on Friday called the Sun’s report “lies” and praised Biden’s “successful leadership abroad that advances our national security.”
Bates also insisted that the Washington Post and other media outlets reported a distorted version of the video showing Biden walking away from the skydiving demonstration and that the president gave a “thumbs up” and “congratulations” to another skydiver who was just outside the frame of the video.
However, Sunak told reporters on Friday that the ceremony’s choreography called for Biden to join his counterparts.
“He just went to talk to each of them individually, and Georgia [Meloni] said: “Don’t worry, they’ll all come [us]’,” said the British Prime Minister.
“We were supposed to line up so they could come and shake all of our hands.”
Sunak also defended the American president, saying Biden was “fine” and was “very polite” to the military personnel who took part in the demonstration.
Biden also skipped a dinner for G7 leaders scheduled to take place later Thursday evening at a luxury hotel in southern Italy.
“There will be a lot of meetings and sessions, as you know,” White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre told reporters on Wednesday, apologizing for Biden’s absence. “So the president will certainly be busy for the two or two and a half days that he is in Italy at the G7 summit. So I wouldn’t read too much into it if he doesn’t go to a dinner.”
During the summit, the United States signed a ten-year security agreement with Ukraine and the alliance agreed to lend Kyiv an additional $50 billion for its war efforts against Russia.
A startling report from the Wall Street Journal last week said Biden’s mental health is a growing concern among Democratic politicians and advisers, with the president frequently caught reading cheat sheets and resting his eyes during meetings.
“You couldn’t be there without feeling uncomfortable,” a source who was involved in talks earlier this year about a $95 billion national security package with military aid for Ukraine told the news agency.
A shocking 86 percent of voters – including 73 percent of Democrats – believe Biden is too old to finish a second term, an ABC News/Ipsos poll found in February.
In March, First Lady Jill Biden scoffed at the idea, floated by then-Republican presidential candidate Nikki Haley, of forcing politicians over 75 to undergo a test of their mental faculties, calling it “ridiculous.”
Biden will face former President Donald Trump in the first presidential debate of this cycle on June 27 on CNN.
According to a JL Partners poll released Thursday, half of U.S. voters expect the incumbent to forget where he is at some point during the verbal battle, and a third expect him to turn away from the stage.
“From Italy to the United Kingdom to New York, millions of people around the world woke up to headlines about con artist Joe Biden’s cognitive decline on full display at the G7 summit,” Trump campaign spokeswoman Karoline Leavitt said in a statement Friday. “Biden stared into the distance and wandered around like a brain-dead zombie, even having to be guided by Italy’s Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni.”
“Our adversaries like China, Russia and Iran are no doubt watching Biden’s obvious decline and planning how to continue to exploit our weak and incompetent commander in chief,” Leavitt added. “America cannot afford another four years with Crooked Joe at the helm. We need a tough leader with a bold vision to demand peace through strength, and that leader is President Donald J. Trump.”
This article originally appeared in the New York Post and has been republished with permission