Yes, age is an issue, says Biden. ‘I’m running against a six-year-old’

Washington: US president Joe Biden has taken aim at Donald Trump’s age and legal woes at the White House Correspondents’ Association dinner, an event ultimately overshadowed by Israel’s war in Gaza.

“The 2024 election’s in full swing and, yes, age is an issue,” Biden said. “I’m a grown man running against a six-year-old.”

Biden has recently ramped up his attacks on Trump, marking a shift in strategy as the November election draws in.

“Age is the only thing we have in common,” Biden, 81, said of Trump, 77. “My vice president actually endorses me,” he said in a swipe at the former vice president Mike Pence’s decision not to back Trump in his bid for re-election.

US President Joe Biden during the White House Correspondents’ Association (WHCA) dinner in Washington.Credit: UPI/Bloomberg

Biden also poked fun at Trump’s legal woes – despite forbidding his aides from talking publicly about his rival’s trials.

“Donald has had a few tough days lately. You might call it ‘stormy’ weather,” Biden said, referring to the case against Stormy Daniels, who claims to have received a hush-money payment to keep quiet before the 2016 election about having sex with Trump in 2006.

The annual event is famed for presidents, journalists and comedians taking outrageous pokes at political scandals and each other. This year it was attended by celebrities including Da’Vine Joy Randolph, Scarlett Johansson, Jon Hamm and Chris Pine.

But despite the jest inside the room, the event was overshadowed by the Gaza war, with guests arriving to chants of “Shame on you” by hundreds of protesters.

A demonstrator speaks on a microphone during a pro-Palestinian protest over the Israel-Hamas war at the White House Correspondents’ Association Dinner. Credit: AP

Demonstrators condemned Biden for his support of Israel’s military campaign and Western news outlets for what they said was biased coverage and misrepresentation of the conflict.

Some protesters wore press vests with the names of more than 100 Palestinian journalists who have been killed in Gaza. Before the event, more than two dozen Palestinian journalists in Gaza released a public letter calling on their colleagues in the US to boycott the dinner.

Protesters cried “Free, free Palestine” and cheered when someone inside the Washington Hilton Hotel – where the dinner has been held for decades – unfurled a Palestinian flag from a top-floor window.

Biden’s 10-minute speech made no mention of the war or the growing humanitarian crisis in Gaza.

The president instead focused on the upcoming election, only striking a serious note to say that another Trump administration would be even more harmful to America than his first term.

“We have to take this serious – eight years ago we could have written it off as ‘Trump talk’ but not after January 6,” he said, referring to the Trump supporters who stormed the Capitol after he defeated Trump in the 2020 election.

“I’m sincerely not asking you to take sides,” he said to the 2600 guests. “I’m asking you to rise up to the seriousness of the moment. Move past the horse-race numbers and the gotcha moments, and the distractions, the sideshows that have come to dominate and sensationalise our politics and focus on what’s actually at stake.”

Biden also referenced a dispute with The New York Times over his lack of engagement with reporters. He has refused to give the newspaper a sit-down interview, breaking a long-standing tradition.

“The New York Times issued a statement blasting me for, quote, ‘actively and effectively avoiding independent journalists’. Hey, if that’s what it takes to get The New York Times to say I’m active and effective, I’m all for it,” Biden quipped.

The Telegraph, London

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