Washington
\nFormer US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton has said President Joe Biden\u2019s advancing age is a \u201clegitimate issue\u201d on the campaign trail, as he seeks to secure a second term in the White House in the election later this year.
\nSpeculation about Biden\u2019s cognitive abilities was once again raised last week when the 81-year-old confused the leaders of Egypt and Mexico, shortly after dismissing claims that his mental state is declining.
\nThe verbal misstep followed an announcement that Biden will not face criminal prosecution for mishandling classified government documents, after a prosecutor described him as an \u201celderly man with a poor memory.\u201d
\nAccording to Clinton, who unsuccessfully ran against Donald Trump in the 2016 US presidential race, the debate about Biden\u2019s age is valid.
\n\u201cI talked to people in the White House all the time, and you know, they know it\u2019s an issue, but as I like to say, \u2018look, it\u2019s a legitimate issue,\u2019\u201d Clinton told MSNBC last week. \u201cIt\u2019s a legitimate issue for Trump who\u2019s only three years younger, right? So it\u2019s an issue.\u201d
\nBut instead of seeking to ignore concerns about his age, Clinton said that the Biden campaign team should expand on his experience as a legislator ahead of November\u2019s election.
\n\u201cI think Biden also should lean into the fact that he\u2019s experienced and that experience is not just in the political arena,\u201d Clinton said. \u201cIt\u2019s like, the stuff of, you know, human experience, character, wisdom.\u201d
\nA poll published last week by NBC News found that some 76% of respondents had concerns over Biden\u2019s age and health, should he be reelected to another four-year term. Similar concerns were voiced by 61% regarding Trump, who will be 78 by the time of the election in November.
\nIn October, the Republican frontrunner sparked questions of his own mental acuity when he incorrectly referred to Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban as the leader of T\u00fcrkiye.
\nMeanwhile, Biden\u2019s personal attorney, Bob Bauer, on Sunday described special counsel Robert Hur\u2019s description of the US president\u2019s mental wellbeing as a \u201cshabby work product.\u201d
\nThe Republican-led critique of Biden was \u201cmisleading,\u201d Bauer told CBS, adding that the report into his retention of classified documents \u201cwent off the rails.\u201d
\nAccording to a YouGov poll of 1,000 US citizens earlier this month, Trump holds a one-point advantage over Biden in a hypothetical match-up between the two likely presidential candidates.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Washington Former US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton has said President Joe Biden\u2019s advancing age is a \u201clegitimate issue\u201d on the campaign trail, as he seeks to secure a second term in the White House in the election later this year. Speculation about Biden\u2019s cognitive abilities was once again raised last week when the 81-year-old […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":387018,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-387002","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-world"},"yoast_head":"\n