‘I Almost Fell Asleep on the Stage’: Biden Blames Debate Performance on International Trip

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President Joe Biden addressed Democratic donors on Tuesday and faulted an arduous international trip for his poor debate performance against Donald Trump .

On Thursday, Biden repeatedly stumbled over his words and lost his train of thought. At one point he curiously announced , “We finally beat Medicare.” The spectacle even prompted on-air conversations on Biden-friendly MSNBC about whether the president should step aside for another candidate to take his place as the nominee.

Not surprisingly, the Biden campaign and the White House have faced an onslaught of questions about his mental fitness. During Tuesday’s White House press briefing, reporters asked if Biden would take a “ neurological scan ” and whether the White House is “ hiding information about the president’s health .”

Donors have also expressed concerns about the condition of the president, who tried to reassure some of them while attending a fundraiser in Virginia on Tuesday.

“I decided to travel around the world a couple of times… shortly before the debate,” he said , according to a press pool report. “I didn’t listen to my staff… and then I almost fell asleep on stage.”

Biden, who spoke for six minutes, added, “It’s not an excuse, but an explanation.”

The president returned from Europe 12 days before the debate . According to a report published on Tuesday by the New York Times , he was exhausted from the trip:

Mr. Biden was drained enough from the back-to-back trips to Europe that his team cut his planned debate preparation by two days so he could rest at his house in Rehoboth Beach, Del., before joining advisers at Camp David for rehearsals. The preparations, which took place over six days, never started before 11 a.m. and Mr. Biden was given time for an afternoon nap each day, according to a person familiar with the process.

The White House has said that during the debate, Biden had a cold that he has been unable to shake .