President Joe Biden sparked concerns Monday night when he appeared to freeze for the better part of a minute during a lively Juneteenth celebration at the White House.
During the event ahead of the national holiday next week, the Commander-in-Chief seemed to short-circuit as the rest of the crowd, including Vice President Kamala Harris and Second Gentleman Doug Emhoff, grooved along to the lively band.
Philonise Floyd, brother of the late George Floyd, flanked Biden on his left and eventually noticed the concerning pause he was taking and wrapped his arm around him in an apparent effort to help.
Floyd was able to get a response out of Biden when he extended a ‘pound it’ it fist in his direction, which the president met with his own fist.
Pictured: Joe Biden, Dough Ehmoff, Kamala Harris, Philonise Floyd, Keeta Floyd. Biden sparks concerns as he appears to FREEZE during Juneteenth celebration concert at the White House alongside a dancing Kamala Harris – before George Floyd’s brother wraps his arm around him
US Vice President Kamala Harris dances with singer Kirk Franklin during a Juneteenth Concert on the South Lawn of the White House in Washington, DC on June 10, 2024
On Monday evening, the White House welcomed a number of performers ahead of the holiday, including Gladys Knight, Patti LaBelle, and Kirk Franklin.
Following Biden’s jarring freeze-up, he delivered a message about Juneteenth to the audience, but suffered another deeply off-putting moment, when his speech became slurred beyond comprehension.
Last week, The Wall Street Journal published a bombshell report about Biden’s cognitive decline, which has reportedly become readily apparent to dozens of high-ranking officials in recent months.
More than 45 Republican and Democrat lawmakers and staffers offered insight into the touchy subject, citing recent flubs they’ve found concerning.
While the White House maintains the 81-year-old is still performing his duties well, the dozens of DC insiders who spoke to the Journal disagreed – describing a president who today speaks so softly that some struggle to even understand what he’s saying.
Others pointed POTUS’s declining grasp of important policy details, and increasing reliance on notes and impromptu offerings from aides.
‘You couldn’t be there and not feel uncomfortable,’ one anonymous source said of a meeting with Biden during critical negotiations over congressional funding for Ukraine aid back in January.
During the meeting, the president reportedly moved so slowly, it took him roughly 10 minutes to greet the nearly two dozen negotiators who’d been summoned.
When the meeting did commence, Biden, the oldest-ever US president, began reading from his notes, making broad points about the need to give money to Ukraine.
This struck several lawmakers as odd, sources said – given that everyone who was there was in agreement about the need to direct additional funding to Ukraine.
The meeting was called as a strategy session to hash out a plan to move a funding package through Congress – though Biden did totally seem to understand that, according to sources inside the room.
While the White House maintains the 81-year-old is still performing his duties well, the dozens of DC insiders who spoke to the WSJ disagreed – describing a president who today speaks so softly that some struggle to even understand what he’s saying
Some said they also had trouble hearing the president, as officials in Ukraine desperately beseeched the US for munitions.
Biden, moreover, deferred most of the talks to other lawmakers, several said – to the point where most of the conversation did not include him.
When questions were posed straight to him, he would turn to staffers, they all said – describing just the first alarming sign they have seen this year.
In another instance that month not mentioned by the Journal, Biden mixed up the names of two of his Hispanic cabinet secretaries, sparking more speculation about his mental capabilities.
Within weeks, he publicly forgot the names of Russian dissident Alexei Navalny’s widow and a German chancellor who died in 2017, while also confusing the leaders of far-flung Egypt and Mexico.
