Biden Hits Back at Trump Over Claims of Covert Executive Power
In a strongly worded statement, US President Joe Biden has denied allegations made by his predecessor Donald Trump that he was not in control of the executive power during his presidency. The claims, which have been circulating for some time, suggest that Biden’s mental and physical faculties were not up to the task of leading the country, and that others may have been making decisions on his behalf.
According to a report by the BBC, Trump and his Republican allies have long questioned Biden’s mental acuity, and have attempted to overturn some of the presidential pardons and federal rules issued at the end of his term in office. A Republican-led panel in the House of Representatives has sought testimony from some of Biden’s closest aides, including his first chief of staff, on his "mental and physical faculties" while he was leading the country.
In a statement on Wednesday, Trump said that the American public had been "purposefully shielded from discovering who wielded the executive power" while Biden’s signature was used to endorse documents that Trump described as leading to "radical policy shifts". "This conspiracy marks one of the most dangerous and concerning scandals in American history," Trump said, as reported by the BBC.
Biden, now 82 and fighting advanced prostate cancer, has hit back at Trump, saying that he made all the decisions during his presidency, including those regarding pardons, executive orders, legislation, and proclamations. "Let me be clear: I made the decisions during my presidency. I made the decisions about the pardons, executive orders, legislation and proclamations," he said. "Any suggestion that I didn’t is ridiculous and false," Biden said in a statement on Wednesday night, according to the BBC.
The controversy surrounding Biden’s mental and physical capacity has intensified in recent weeks, following the publication of a new book that accuses an inner circle within the former administration of covering up his "physical deterioration" during his ill-fated re-election campaign last year. The BBC reports that the book, "Original Sin", written by Jake Tapper of CNN and Alex Thompson of Axios, alleges that Biden’s condition during the campaign was said to be so poor that aides discussed giving him a wheelchair.
Biden abruptly ended his re-election campaign last July, shortly after weeks of pressure following his disastrous debate performance against Trump. Some Democrats, including former US House of Representatives Speaker Nancy Pelosi, have publicly blamed Biden for not exiting the race sooner, which would have given his party more time to anoint a popular replacement. Early last month, Biden gave his first interview since leaving the White House, maintaining he "
