The Democratic Strategy to Fight the Special Counsel’s Report

“We’ll put Biden’s mental capacity against Trump’s any day.”

President Joe Biden
Poll after poll shows voters pointing to Biden’s age as a top concern. Andrew Harnik/AP

Special counsel Robert Hur’s attack on President Joe Biden’s age and mental acuity has triggered a private panic among Democrats. But publicly, lawmakers and officials are coalescing around a defense of the aging incumbent: He’s not Donald Trump.

“[We’re] circling the wagons,” Connecticut Rep. Jim Himes told NOTUS. “The report is aggravating because it is Comey 2.0 in terms of outrageous political meddling where it shouldn’t happen. But this is a choice between two people. And we’ll put Biden’s mental capacity against Trump’s any day.”

Himes’ comments were echoed throughout Democratic circles on Friday. Biden, described in Hur’s report as an “elderly man with a poor memory,” hit on a central fear for the campaign, who see in poll after poll voters pointing to Biden’s age as a top concern.