‘That’s ridiculous’: Jill Biden fumes at question about her husband’s mental fitness

One persistent question has plagued her husband’s presidency. Confronted by it in a TV interview, Jill Biden’s answer was blunt.

US First Lady Jill Biden has called concerns and questions about the mental fitness of her husband, President Joe Biden, “ridiculous” amid speculation about whether he will seek a second term in 2024, and who will succeed him if he does not.

In an interview with CBS Sunday Morning that is set to air this weekend, Dr Biden was pressed on a recent poll that shows registered US voters split on the question of whether the President is “mentally fit”, the New York Post reports.

“Quite a few Americans have some questions about the president’s current mental fitness,” CBS correspondent Rita Braver suggested to the First Lady in a preview clip.

Jill and Joe Biden. Picture: Saul Loeb/AFP

“I think that’s ridiculous,” Dr Biden responded.

The Politico/Morning Consult survey highlighted in the interview was conducted last month and found that only 46 per cent of respondents agreed with the statement “Joe Biden is mentally fit”, while 48 per cent disagreed.

First Lady Jill Biden opens up this Sunday about her life, her efforts to support her husband and looks back at their first year in office, in a rare interview at Camp David, the Presidential retreat in rural Maryland pic.twitter.com/lC7gpUSqjZ

— CBS Sunday Morning 🌞 (@CBSSunday) December 9, 2021

The survey came out just days before the President’s annual physical exam, following which Mr Biden’s physician determined he was “fit to successfully execute the duties of the presidency”.

Republican politicians have demanded Mr Biden take a cognitive test after a series of verbal stumbles, while White House press secretary Jen Psaki has been quizzed about a persistent presidential cough, which she has blamed on allergies.

Dr Biden said the role of first lady was “a little harder than I imagined”. Picture: Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images/AFP/

Mr Biden is the oldest person ever elected US president, and will be 81 years old on election day 2024.

While the White House has insisted Mr Biden plans to run for re-election, there has been constant conversation about who will be the Democratic Party’s standard-bearer if he is forced to step aside.

Elsewhere in the interview, Dr Biden described the job of first lady as “a little harder than I imagined”.

“It’s not like a job that you do; it’s a lifestyle that you live, and it’s not something you leave at five or at three, and it’s 24 hours a day,” she said.

In an additional clip released on Friday, the First Lady called her husband “an eternal optimist”.

Dr Biden said President Biden was an “eternal optimist”. SAUL LOEB / AFP)

“He keeps working at it. He’s an eternal optimist, and he keeps working, Rita, like almost 24 hours a day, at creating relationships with Republicans as well as Democrats, to push his agenda forward. It’s that important,” she said, according to the Daily Mail.

US President Biden’s first year in office has been marred by division as Republicans and Democrats clash over coronavirus regulations, spending legislation and supply chain woes.

“I don’t care if it’s a red state or a blue state,” Dr Biden said.

“I think, you know, Joe is the president for all Americans.”

The full interview — which was filmed at the presidential retreat at Camp David — will air on Sunday in the United States.

This story first appeared in the New York Post and has been republished with permission.