Biden struggles with hoarse voice at the start of the presidential debate

Washington — In the first moments Debate on ThursdayPresident Biden stumbled when he missed some of his opening lines and his voice gave out. Sources said he was suffering from a cold.

Biden’s voice never recovered during the 90-minute debate against former President Donald Trump – diminishing the chances of his debate performance convincing Americans that, at 81, he is healthy enough to serve another four-year term in the White House. CBS News poll earlier this month The study found that only a third of voters believe Biden has the cognitive skills to be president. In comparison, half of voters believe Trump has the necessary skills.

Forty-five minutes into the debate, sources familiar with Biden’s preparations said he had been suffering from a cold for several days. A senior official said the president was examined by a doctor at Camp David who confirmed the cold. The president’s COVID test came back negative, they said.

In addition, the president lost his train of thought and struggled to mention Medicare by name when answering a question about the tax rate on wealthy Americans.

“We have 1,000 trillionaires in America — I mean billionaires in America. And what happens? They’re in a situation where they’re actually paying 8.2% in taxes. If they were only paying 24%, 25%, or any of those numbers, we’d be taking in $500 million — billion dollars, I should say — over a 10-year period,” he said, listing a number of priorities including funding child care, health care and “making sure that we’re able to qualify every single person for what I’ve been able to do with COVID, excuse me, with dealing with everything that we’re dealing with, um…”

Then the President paused and tried to find the right word.

“Excuse me,” he said, “I have to take care of everything we have to do right now…”

Then the President paused again.

“See when we finally defeat Medicare,” he continued.

“Thank you, President Biden,” said CNN anchor Jake Tapper. “President Trump?”

“He defeated Medicaid, beat it to death, he’s destroying Medicare,” Trump said.

Biden’s performance in the debate unsettled some Democrats. One House Democrat familiar with the discussions said, “I’ve never seen such a freak-out.” But the House Democrat warned that it was unclear how seriously they would push for Biden to step back from the 2024 ticket.

A senior Democratic source at the Capitol called the Democrat’s performance “disappointing” and “painful,” but believes it is still possible for him to “recover.”

The morning after the debate, House Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries, when asked whether Biden should resign after a debate performance, replied, “No.”

Mr Biden and Trump were later asked in the debate to allay concerns about her suitability to be president at her age.

“For half of my career, I’ve been criticized for being the youngest politician. I was the second-youngest person ever elected to the United States Senate, and this one is three years younger and much less competent,” Biden said, urging voters to look at his record. “Look at what I’ve done.”

Trump, meanwhile, claimed he had passed two cognitive tests.

After the debate, Biden sounded more energetic as he addressed his supporters at a campaign party, and his voice seemed to brim with excitement.

Nancy Cordes, Nikole Killion, Ed O’Keefe and Ellis Kim contributed reporting.