Biden tells Democratic governors he needs more sleep, plans to stop scheduling events after 8 p.m.

CNN
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President Joe Biden told Democratic governors at a White House meeting Wednesday that part of his plan going forward is to stop scheduling events after 8 p.m. so he can get more sleep, according to three sources briefed on his comments.

The remarks, first reported by The New York Times, came as Biden, 81, sought to reassure a group of more than 20 state leaders that he could defeat former President Donald Trump in November and govern effectively for another four years.

After Biden’s poor performance in CNN’s presidential debate last week, some Democrats began calling for the president to drop out of the race, forcing the White House to scramble to convince skeptics within the party and voters. In the days since, administration officials have offered confusing and contradictory explanations in an attempt to portray a performance that has exacerbated voters’ concerns about Biden’s age.

Biden’s comment at Wednesday’s meeting left several governors in the room frustrated, sources told CNN, and is one reason some in attendance were angered by the Biden campaign’s declaration of loyalty and enthusiasm for them distributed Thursday.

The White House and the Biden campaign did not immediately comment on the president’s remarks.

After the meeting, Governors Wes Moore of Maryland, Kathy Hochul of New York and Tim Walz of Minnesota painted a positive picture of the meeting at a news conference, adding that Biden was “all in” and “in it to win it.”

In response to a reporter’s question, Walz dismissed any concerns about Biden’s age and health, saying the president was “fit for office.”

Biden, the oldest president in U.S. history, has faced questions about his age and health for years. Those questions came to a head during the debate, when he was hoarse and sometimes unintelligible, allowing Trump — who is just three years younger than Biden — to appear healthier. A majority of debate watchers saw the former president as the winner of the matchup, according to a CNN poll.

Biden’s debate performance opened the floodgates for increased scrutiny and reporting on the president’s health, with sources describing a decline in his mental fitness.

The New York Times reported earlier this week that the president’s “lapses” have increased and become more worrisome, with a source telling the Times that preparations for Biden’s six-day debate at Camp David did not begin until 11 a.m. and that the president had time to nap each day.

White House spokeswoman Karine Jean-Pierre sidestepped a question at Wednesday’s briefing about whether the president was taking a daily nap after the Times report. But she cited jet lag and travel fatigue as reasons for Biden’s poor debate performance, after previously attributing it to a cold.

As pressure mounts for him to consider dropping out of the race and concerns grow over his ability to serve another term, CNN previously reported that Biden has said privately that the next few days will be crucial to whether he can salvage his reelection bid.

This story has been updated with additional details.

CNN’s Kaanita Iyer, Jack Forrest, MJ Lee and Betsy Klein contributed to this report.