Biden could have served until 2029, Clyburn says, despite revelations of cognitive decline

Top Biden ally and Democratic Rep. Jim Clyburn told CNN's Jake Tapper on Sunday that former President Joe Biden could have served another four years, despite several revelations about the former president's cognitive decline.

"With all due respect, sir, having interviewed you quite often, I don’t think there’s any comparison between how sharp you are and your ability to talk and answer questions, and get dates right, et cetera, and what we’ve seen from President Biden," Tapper said. "Do you think that Joe Biden really would have been able to perform as president all the way through January 2029?"

Tapper has been promoting his new book, "Original Sin: President Biden's Decline, Its Cover-Up, and His Disastrous Choice to Run Again," which provides a look at the cover-up of the former president's decline while in office. 

"Yes, I thought that back then," Clyburn responded. "I still think that."

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"But I don‘t know that, when people ask me, did I know this or did I know the other? And the fact of the matter is, no, I didn‘t and, you make my point here. So, it’s not all about age. I’ve seen people develop Alzheimer’s when they’re in their thirties and forties. So it’s not about age, it’s about the ability to do the job. And I never saw anything that allowed me to think that Joe Biden was not able to do the job," the lawmaker said. 

Clyburn made the comments prior to Biden's announcement that he was diagnosed with an "aggressive form" of prostate cancer.

"Last week, President Joe Biden was seen for a new finding of a prostate nodule after experiencing increasing urinary symptoms," Biden's team shared in a statement. "On Friday, he was diagnosed with prostate cancer, characterized by a Gleason score of 9 (Grade Group 5) with metastasis to the bone." 

"While this represents a more aggressive form of the disease, the cancer appears to be hormone-sensitive which allows for effective management. The President and his family are reviewing treatment options with his physicians," the statement said.

Tapper followed up with a question about Biden's disastrous debate performance and whether that concerned him.

"Absolutely it did," Clyburn stated. "Yes, I was concerned. Now the question is, is this a condition, or is this an incident?"

Clyburn said there were no suspicions of any prolonged condition.

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"And then remember, a lot of us were a bit concerned about his schedule in the run-up to the debate. He took two overseas trips, came back and started preparing for that debate. I called it at the time preparation overload, because they were cramming into a four- or five-day period the preparation for the debate after taking two overseas trips, which I thought was taxing in and of itself. And so these kinds of concerns are out there. But, none of us thought that there was anything here that created any suspicions of any prolonged condition," he said. 

Tapper asked Clyburn about the Hur-Biden audio that was released on Friday and the South Carolina lawmaker said he never personally experienced anything out of the ordinary in his many conversations with Biden. 

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"I talked to him on the telephone very often," Clyburn said. "And I never saw anything that I thought was outside of the ordinary. I watch my dad reach the age of 80. I saw him slow down, he couldn’t do the same things he did at 50 or 60. But it didn’t bother his mental capacity at all! And then my father died from prostate cancer. So I never saw anything I thought was unusual. Did he talk as swiftly as he used to talk? No, he didn’t. Did he walk as swiftly? No, he didn’t! But that is to be expected."