A former CNN pundit has offered a mea culpa as he shrugged off concerns about the issue President Biden‘s mental decline.
Chris Cilizza, who was CNN’s editor-in-chief before leaving the network in 2022, spoke candidly about his lack of journalistic curiosity about Biden’s condition to serve after a pair of damning reports this week from The New York Times and The Wall Street Journal that shed light on the president’s diminished condition.
“As a reporter, I have to make a confession,” Cillizza began his “apology” on his YouTube channel on Thursday. “I should have pressed earlier for more information about Joe Biden’s mental and physical well-being and any signs of deterioration.”
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Former CNN editor-in-chief Chris Cillizza apologized for not pushing hard enough on President Biden’s mental decline. (Screenshot/CNN)
Cillizza acknowledged how Republicans “regularly pinged” me during his time at CNN, asking why he had not addressed Biden’s decline and how he would “dismiss” them since he had seen no “evidence” of the decline of the president.
And not only did he admit that he believed the White House’s word, he also admitted that he felt guilty about “age shaming” Biden.
“The White House and the people around Joe Biden were absolutely convinced that it was insulting to suggest anything – to question whether he was in physical, mental or both decline. ‘How could you? It’s a disgrace to the age.’ And I think that influenced me on some level,” Cillizza said. ‘Because even though I asked the question every now and then… I didn’t really push it, if I’m honest. Now, when I left CNN and it became a little clearer to me about Biden’s age, I think I wrote and talked quite regularly about the fact that I wasn’t sure this guy could handle it. And of course, after the June 27 debate, everyone, including myself, was writing and talking about it.”
The former CNN pundit then read excerpts from the Journal report on Biden’s limited interactions with his own Cabinet members and Democratic lawmakers, as well as the Times’ claim that it was “hard to imagine” Biden spending another four years in the role would stay.
President Joe Biden appears to rest his eyes during the summit with African leaders in Lobito, Angola, on December 4, 2024. (Reuters)
“I probably should have pushed harder on the Biden age, because in retrospect it’s clear that the people close to him knew that at best he had some good days and some bad days. On June 27, the debate was clearly a bad debate. But if the bad day was so bad, as bad as he performed on that debate stage, the fact that he had been president without very many questions asked about his physical and mental decline, and I’ll add the fact. I find the fact that he remained president from June 27 until January 20, 2025 a bit worrying and begs the question: when did people around him know, what did they know and why didn’t they share it? Cillizza said.
“I know journalists have been asking for it, and I can tell you, I mean, I know from my experience there was a shame factor in that. The people around Biden did their best to make you feel bad when you asked if he lived up to expectations. the task of being president, running for president again, and being president for another four years. “How could you?” … And they did a very good job, at least until they couldn’t hide it anymore,” he continued. “But journalists, and myself here, we should have been more pushy. We shouldn’t have – I shouldn’t have let the shame campaign that made you feel bad for asking the question get to me, because it’s now become clear from both the Wall Street Journal and the Wall Street Journal. and The New York Times piece that there was a real decline… and a significant decline in Joe Biden, and it was managed by the people around him. They sort of kept him out of the world, the political world. and kind of keep him in the bunker.”
“And so I think it’s a lesson that we have to learn going forward. Because again, Donald Trump will be the oldest person to ever hold office if he has been in office for four years, and I will take that into account. Because again, asking those questions is not biased. Asking those questions is a journalistic thing, and I should have pushed harder and not been so willing to accept the “No, he’s fine.” Look at him when he’s in the public campaign,” Cillizza added.
Cillizza said he fell for the White House’s “shame campaign” every time he brought up the subject of Biden’s mental acuity. (William B. Plowman/NBC/NBC Newswire/NBCUniversal via Getty Images)
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Some critics focused on Cillizza’s delayed apology. One of them, conservative podcast host Meghan McCain, drew criticism for his candor and invoked his previous comments about her late father, Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., during his 2008 presidential run.
“When I say this is too little too late, I mean this is absolutely pathetically too little too late,” McCain responded to when he ran in 2008 (when he was 71, mind you) than Chris. He ignored Biden because he’s a hack.
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