(Headline USA) President Joe Biden skipped a meeting with the German chancellor during a June 2022 G7 event to go to bed early, according to the Wall Street Journal.
Biden’s team had scheduled a meeting between the president and German Chancellor Olaf Scholz for the early evening, but Scholz ended up only meeting with Secretary of State Antony Blinken, who told Scholz that Biden had decided to go to bed.
Ironically, Scholz and the other German officials had agreed to schedule the original meeting with Biden earlier in the evening because they knew Biden tired quickly, according to two sources familiar with the meeting.
While Biden showed no signs of cognitive decline during his meetings throughout the day, by the evening it was clear he was worn down, the sources added.
A State Department spokesperson denied the report, saying Blinken had never been candid in so many words about Biden’s reasons for missing the meeting.
“That is absolutely not accurate,” said the spokesperson. “Secretary Blinken never said that or anything like it.”
A White House official also issued a statement denying the allegations, insisting that Biden discussed both international and domestic matters at length during the 2022 G7, and that he wrapped up one night at 10 p.m.
It is not the first time Biden has ridden out an awkward scandal involving a German chancellor and the G7 summit.
In February, he recounted a story about what was, ostensibly, a meeting with then-Chancellor Angela Merkel at the 2021 summit. However, Biden confused the female leader with her Reagan-era predecessor, Helmut Kohl, who presided over the fall of the Berlin Wall.
“…Then, Helmut Kohl of Germany looked at me and said, ‘What would you say, Mr. President, if you picked up the London Times tomorrow morning and learned that 1,000 people had broken down the doors, the doors of the British Parliament and killed some [people] on the way in [to] deny the prime minister to take office?’” Biden recounted during a New York fundraiser.
Biden also claimed in February to have spoken recently with long-dead former French President François Mitterrand.
The new Journal report comes amid increased media scrutiny over Biden’s mental acuity. Administration officials, including Blinken, have been quick to defend the 81-year-old president, even as others within the Democratic Party call for Biden to abandon the 2024 ticket.
Last week, Blinken insisted that foreign allies would not be dissuaded from supporting Biden despite his disastrous debate performance against former President Donald Trump.
“They’ve seen a president who’s reinvested America, reinvested America in the world, reinvested in these alliances, in these partnerships in ways that they seek and want,” Blinken said.
Biden has also rebuffed calls for him to step aside, telling ABC’s George Stephanopolous last week that he would only end his bid for reelection if the “Lord Almighty” told him to.
