Sen. John Kennedy attacked White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre for defending President Joe Biden's debate performance Wednesday.
“Well, I listened to the president's press secretary,” Kennedy told Fox News in an interview with Aishah Hasnie. “I’ve heard better answers on ‘The Dating Game.’ She's blamed the president's performance on jet lag, a cold, staff. They blamed it on everything but murder hornets.”
The White House has offered a several evolving explanations for Biden’s widely criticized debate performance. After the White House cited Biden’s cold and aides being overprepared, the president told reporters yesterday that he also blamed jet lag and travel.
In Wednesday’s White House press briefing, Jean-Pierre conceded she was aware of his taxing travel schedule, and it was her “bad” for not discussing it earlier.
“Look, I watched the debate like everybody else,” the Louisiana Republican senator said. “I thought President Trump's performance was one of his best. I thought, obviously, President Biden's performance was a multiple-vehicle pileup.”
“I don't know if President Biden will quit,” Kennedy continued. “I wouldn't bet my house on it. And if I were betting your house, it would be a maybe. I do know this: President Biden is deeply unpopular.
“And I don't hate anybody,” Kennedy added. “But fair or not, the American people believe that the president is, President Biden is, older than the Adirondack Mountains.”
“They think that he's worse than he used to be. And, frankly, he wasn't great then,” Kennedy said. “They think that he talks like he's from outer space.”
“The age question is something we've been talking about in Washington a lot lately with Sen. Dianne Feinstein, with Leader Mitch McConnell,” Hasnie interrupted Kennedy, prior to a commercial break. “And it's a question that Americans are looking to us and wanting to know, why do we have to keep having this discussion with politicians?
