(Luis Cornelio, Headline USA) A CBS reporter admitted Sunday that the legacy media underreported President Joe Biden’s cognitive decline but stopped short of acknowledging her own network’s role in the cover-up.
CBS News correspondent Jan Crawford made the admission during a segment on Face the Nation, during which guests discussed the most overlooked stories of 2024.
“Under-reported or over-reported? That would be, for me, Joe Biden’s obvious cognitive decline that became undeniable in the televised debate,” Crawford said, referencing Biden’s performance in the debate with now-President-elect Donald Trump in July 2024.
“It has started to emerge that his advisors kind of managed his limitations—which has been reported in The Wall Street Journal—for four years, and he insisted that he could still run for president,” Crawford added, as seen in a clip shared by the Media Research Center on X.
Without blaming herself or her network, Crawford lamented the media’s failure to scrutinize what Republicans and conservative news outlets had reported for years: Biden was unfit for office.
“We should’ve much more forcefully questioned whether he was fit for office for another four years, which could have led to a primary for the Democrats. It could’ve changed the scope of the entire election.”
Addressing Biden’s claims—as reported by The Washington Post—that he could have beaten Trump in the 2024 race had he not dropped out, Crawford said, “That’s either delusional or they’re gaslighting him.”
CBS News chief election correspondent Robert Costa chimed in to defend Biden, claiming the 81-year-old president was merely sick during the first debate.
“President Biden has said repeatedly he was sick during the debate, June 27 in Atlanta and he’s always been fine and he leaves fine—that is his position, the position of many of his top aides as well,” Costa said.
Costa’s defense is typical of the narrative CBS News has pushed over the years, often parroting Biden’s explanations to questions about his cognitive decline nearly verbatim.
Headlines like, “Biden says he hasn’t taken a cognitive test: ‘Why the hell would I take a test?’” and “Biden fields questions about fitness to run for president in 2024: ‘I’ve gotta finish this job’” were common on CBS News.
Even after the debate, CBS ran an article that defended Biden’s mental fitness: “After struggling in first debate, Biden’s campaign remains resolute, family urges him to stay in the race.”
Meanwhile, CBS News’s scrutiny was directed at Trump, the man who swept the 2024 election.
“More than 230 doctors and health care providers call on Trump to release medical records,” read a CBS News headline.
In March 2024, CBS News anchor Margaret Brennan questioned Sen. Dan Sullivan, R-Ark., about Trump’s “mental fitness,” as if questions did not exist about Biden’s own decline.
“I know you have endorsed Mr. Trump,” Brennan said. “He seemed there to confuse Biden for Obama. He also suggested that there were U.S. troops serving in Ukraine. Are you comfortable about his mental fitness?”
Sullivan swiftly retorted, “Compared to the current president? One hundred ten percent.”
Referring to a CBS News poll that showed only 32 percent of American voters believed Biden was fit to serve again, Sullivan added, “And as your polling shows, I think the American people have real concerns where President Biden is with regard to his fitness for office, particularly his mental acuity. And relative to President Biden — or relative to former President Trump — I don’t even think it’s a close call when you see the two in action.”
Watch how the left celebrated Brennan’s line of questioning below:
