State Department denies report Blinken told German chancellor Biden had to go to bed early at G-7 meeting
The State Department is disputing a report from the Wall Street Journal claiming President Biden skipped out on a meeting with German high officials to catch some sleep.
The WSJ reported Monday that Germany had arranged a meeting between Biden and German Chancellor Olaf Scholz at the Schloss Elmau resort in Bavaria following the June 2022 G-7 summit.
Secretary of State Antony Blinken is alleged to have arrived without Biden to that early evening lounge meeting and announced that the president would not be attending because he had to go to bed, according to two sources speaking to the WSJ.
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Fox News Digital reached out to the State Department for comment on the alleged incident.
"That is absolutely not accurate," State Department spokesperson Matthew Miller said. "Secretary Blinken never said that or anything like it."
The State Department gave an identical statement to the WSJ in the original report.
A source familiar with the 2022 meeting described the lounge gathering as informal and said Biden was never expected to attend.
Blinken has defended Biden in the weeks following his disastrous performance against former President Trump at the first presidential debate.
Speaking at a Brookings Institute event on July 1, Blinken claimed worldwide observers would not be dissuaded from supporting Biden due to his confused demeanor during the debate.
"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.
He added that "confidence in American leadership has gone up dramatically" over the course of Biden's term in the Oval Office.