A Biden official admitted Tuesday to Axios that “no one is listening” to the 81-year-old president after he appeared to claim former President Donald Trump needs to be locked up.
While on a trip to New Hampshire to talk about lowering the cost of prescription drugs, President Joe Biden said “we gotta lock him up” after discussing what he expected Trump to do during a second term. Moments later, the president appeared to clean his comments up by adding, “politically, lock him up.” One of the president’s officials responded to the remarks in a statement to Axios, admitting that the president has lost his star power and the comments will soon be forgotten. (RELATED: Biden And Obama Bad-Mouth Harris At Funeral, Pro Lip-Reader Claims)
“For better or worse, no one is listening to him anymore and his words have little power and less reach. It’s a blip. Gone in any meaningful way by mid-day tomorrow if it makes it that long,” a Biden official said, according to Axios national correspondent Alex Thompson.
Biden in NH lists what Trump would do as president and says: “we gotta lock him up” and then, appearing to realize how his comments would be taken, adds: “politically, lock him up.” pic.twitter.com/cw3X8RzKn2
— Alex Thompson (@AlexThomp) October 22, 2024
A counterpoint from a current Biden admin official: “For better or worse, no one is listening to him anymore and his words have little power and less reach. It’s a blip. Gone in any meaningful way by mid-day tomorrow if it makes it that long.”
— Alex Thompson (@AlexThomp) October 22, 2024
A former administration official responded to the comments too in a statement to Thompson, adding that the president’s remarks will be hurtful to Vice President Kamala Harris.
“We gotta lock Joe up,” the former official said, according to Thompson.
Noting this could be politically unhelpful to Harris, a former Biden admin official texts me: “we gotta lock Joe up.” https://t.co/juzeUrhM1H
— Alex Thompson (@AlexThomp) October 22, 2024
The president’s comments come after the vice president’s team seemingly sidelined the 81-year-old from the campaign trail, three Harris campaign officials and three White House officials told NBC News. Biden last appeared on the campaign trail with Harris on Sept. 2 for a joint rally. The vice president has struggled to separate herself from the president and articulate how she would lead differently.
After telling The View he thought he could still beat Trump, the president also dodged the perfect opportunity to defend his vice president after she got in a back and forth with Republican Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis over hurricane recovery efforts.
“Mr. President, does Gov. DeSantis need to take Vice President Harris’s calls?” RealClearPolitics White House correspondent Phil Wegmann asked.
“All I can tell you is I’ve talked to Gov. DeSantis. He’s been very gracious. He’s thanked me for all we’ve done. He knows what we are doing, and I think that’s important,” the president answered before leaving the room.
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