A White House spokesman has dismissed concerns over President Biden mumbling his way through a conversation with the Israeli president.
President Isaac Herzog had been in Washington D.C. for a meeting on Tuesday, where 80 year-old Biden reaffirmed the US commitment to Israel.
Video footage of their exchange shows Biden mumbling indecipherable comments towards Herzog while avoiding eye contact, and looking down at himself, as if he’s about to nod-off.
Fox News host Martha MacCallum questioned White House spokesman John Kirby over the mumbling, saying: ‘Why is it so hard to understand what the President is trying to say there?’
In response, Kirby told the news host that Biden had been ‘very, very clear’ while making his comments.
John Kirby was grilled about the mumbling remarks made by President Biden on Fox News
The two had been participating in a bilateral meeting inside the Oval Office on Tuesday
Biden is seen here with his eyes closed talking to the fellow president inside the Oval Office
Avoiding the subject of the president’s demeanor, Kirby continued: ‘Our commitment to Israel’s security is iron clad, not going to change.
‘That doesn’t mean we don’t have concerns that about the significant changes that are afoot in the democratic institution inside Israel.
‘The President spoke about that honestly, with the prime minister and the president of Israel.
‘Israel is a deep and secure partner and friend in the region and we are going to do everything we can to defend themselves.’
In response, MacCallum questioned Kirby further asking him: ‘So you didn’t think there was any problem to communicate there, you didn’t think there was any difficulty understanding what he was trying to say?’
Kirby again stood by his comments, adding: ‘The President was very clear in that clip and he’s been very clear with Israeli leaders.’
The footage shows Biden with his eyes closed talking to Herzog, saying: ‘We brought Israelis and Palestinians together, at a political level’.
The rest of the clip is almost unintelligible as Herzog scans around the Oval Office in the White House.
US President Joe Biden poses for a picture with Israeli President Isaac Herzog (R) at the Presidential residence in Jerusalem on July 14, 2022
Last month, Biden was ridiculed after he made a speech at the National Safety Communities Summit in West Hartford, Connecticut.
The president ended the speech with a bizarre reference to Queen Elizabeth II, nine months after he attended her funeral.
He then motioned to aides asking which way he was to leave the stage to take photographs.
After expressing his outrage about the U.S.’s gun violence problem during his speech he informed the crowd that he had to leave due to an impending storm.
The audience – comprised of a number of young activists – shouted back, ‘Nooooo!’
‘That’s the truth, now don’t make a lie,’ he continued. ‘As that scene in the John Wayne movie, don’t make me a dog-faced lying pony soldier.’
He had previously deployed a similar line at a 2020 campaign event in New Hampshire – a bizarre moment that went viral.
He then told the group ‘God save the queen,’ before heading offstage to take pictures with participants.
The pool reporter chronicling the trip at the time sent out a note to the press saying that he and the other reporters had ‘no idea’ why the president mentioned the queen, who has been dead since September.
Biden is also now using the the shorter stairs to board Air Force One, after he previously stumbled up the larger stairs to the aircraft at least three times.
Politico reported Wednesday that two Biden advisers privately acknowledged that the president’s now-frequent use of the shorter staircase was intentional to ensure easier travel and minimize the chances of him taking another spill.
President Joe Biden is now almost exclusively boarding Air Force One using the shorter, retractable stairs (left, on Thursday), after falling up the stairs three times. He stumbled up the stairs in March 2021 (right)
Presidents have the option of using a staircase on wheels – with 26 steps to climb – or a shorter, 14-step staircase that folds into the plane.
While Biden continues to use the taller staircase, thus making a grander entrance, when he arrives at various destinations, he’s been opting to take the shorter staircase to board the plane on almost every occasion since falling over a sandbag last month.
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