A CNN panel got into a heated debate on Wednesday over whether President Biden was capable of doing the job, as commentator Ana Navarro insisted questions about Biden's health and decline were all "speculation" because she's spent time with him.
After presidential historian Tim Naftali insisted President Biden did not have to drop out of the race and did so in order to unify his party, the Manhattan Institute's Reihan Salam pushed back and said it was "so obviously false" and that Biden was "manifestly incapable" of doing the job.
Biden addressed the nation on Wednesday in his first public appearance since he decided to bow out of the race.
"Tell me how you know he’s manifestly incapable?" Naftali shot back.
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Salam said Biden's decline has been widely discussed and added that the "deeper question is who is actually in charge at any given time? You know, this notion that he’s only sharp for six hours a day? This is an incredibly volatile moment, in part because of his failures."
Navarro jumped in to attack Salam's thinking and noted the time she'd spent with the president.
"No. Everything you're saying, I'm sorry, is speculation. Let me tell you what is not speculation," Navarro, also a co-host on "The View," said. "It is speculation! It is speculation! Because actually, unlike you, I’ve actually seen the guy at 9:00 at night. I have seen him after he has had five different events in 24 hours."
Salam shot back at Navarro and wondered, "Might that cloud your judgment?"
"Do you think that makes you more objective?" he added.
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"Well, I think the fact that I have actually seen him, whereas you're just reading gossip and speculation," Navarro argued.
Former NY Lt. Gov. Betsy McCaughey also jumped into the debate, arguing that Biden's debate performance showed he was "clearly incompetent" and unable to answer questions.
The panelists continued to argue and speak over one another before Ashley Allison, who worked for the Biden-Harris campaign in 2020, said, "The story that Joe Biden is lying to the public is not – when was the last time you were with Joe Biden? When was the last time you were with Joe Biden?"
"There are a lot of Democrats in Congress who were with him in October 2021, who are frightened and afraid in October 2021, because he could not clearly communicate a case for passing major legislation, something that he specialized in during the Obama administration," Salam added before the conversation ended.
