(Luis Cornelio, Headline USA) Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., was forced to watch himself claiming President Joe Biden was mentally sharp and ready to serve another term. This statement did not age well after Biden’s horrific performance in the first 2024 presidential debate.
Fast forward to 2025, and Schumer now refuses to say whether he truly believed Biden was fit for re-election, as seen in a softball interview on NBC News’s Meet the Press with host Kristen Welker.
“You were, obviously, in close contact with President Biden well before the public tuned into that debate that ultimately led to him stepping down,” Welker began, according to the Media Research Center. “I want to play you a little bit of something you said last year. Take a look.”
Welker then aired a clip of Schumer insisting Biden’s mental acuity was “great” and “fine.” In the video, Schumer declared, “It’s as good as it’s been over the years … All this right-wing propaganda that his mental acuity has declined is wrong.”
After the video concluded, Welker pressed Schumer over his role in promoting what Republicans long knew was a false narrative to shield Biden, the oldest president in U.S. history, from scrutiny.
“What do you say to Americans that feel as though you and other top Democrats misled them about President Biden’s mental acuity?” Welker asked.
Schumer denied misleading anyone, falsely claiming Biden stepped down “on his own because he thought it was better not only for the Democratic Party, [but] for America.”
Welker pressed further: “Do you feel, as we have this conversation today, that President Biden could serve another four years had he stayed in the race and potentially won?”
Schumer again refused to directly answer questions, dodging, “Well, I’m not going to speculate. As I said, I think his record is a stellar one and he’ll go down in history as a really outstanding president.”
Schumer, along with former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and former President Barack Obama, was among the top Democrats who pressured Biden to drop out after his disastrous first debate with Trump.
🚨ABC NEWS: "Schumer forcefully made the case that it would be better for Biden, better for the Democratic party, and better for the country if he were to bow out."
"Biden is going to see the whole house of cards come down soon." pic.twitter.com/u4wa0zHU1K
— Breaking911 (@Breaking911) July 17, 2024
Biden initially refused to cave in to the pressure but eventually gave in after Democrats launched a public campaign demanding he step aside. Their concerns were that keeping Biden in the race would have made it easier for Trump to win the election.
Despite nominating Vice President Kamala Harris, Trump went on to cruise to victory, reclaiming the White House and expanding the Republican base across all ethnic and demographic groups.
