Biden staffers lift the lid on president's cognitive decline as 82-year-old is accused of unforgivable lapse

Everyone from Mike Johnson to members of Joe Biden's own staff are commenting on the 82-year-old president's noticeable decline in the last days of his presidency.

Biden, the oldest president in American history, had to drop out of his re-election race after a June debate disaster where he looked feeble and his mental faculties were called into question.

As he leaves office on Monday, more and more people are beginning to speak out on how much agency the president had as he's set to dejectedly bow out after one term.

Johnson, who will retain his position as Speaker of the House, said that Biden bewilderingly told him in a January 2024 meeting that he 'didn't do' an executive order that he had signed months earlier. 

The order, announced on January 26 and still available on the White House website, placed a temporary pause on pending approvals of liquefied natural gas exports.  

Johnson told The Free Press he asked Biden: 'Sir, why did you pause LNG exports to Europe? Liquefied natural gas is in great demand by our allies. Why would you do that?'

Biden was surprised and said he didn't, leaving Johnson stunned. 

'He genuinely didn’t know what he had signed and I walked out of that meeting with fear and loathing because I thought, ‘We are in serious trouble - who is running the country?’ Like, I don’t know who put the paper in front of him, but he didn’t know.' 

Johnson's comments follow a New York Times expose that cites more than two dozen Biden allies, from aides to fellow lawmakers to donors, about how they planned to 'manage his decline.'

Biden aides would reschedule meetings to suit the president's mood and would delay sharing negative information with him until they could figure out how to spin it to his liking.

He would also typically be surrounded by staffers as he walked to the South Lawn to take the presidential chopper in order not to look frail on camera.  

Perhaps most shockingly, Biden had to use a teleprompter for small fund-raisers in private homes, while donors were forced to submit questions before he spoke.

They also made the president's stairway to get onto Air Force One shorter to avoid Biden potentially stumbling on camera. 

All the while, they would publicly get angry at any member of the press who suggested Biden wasn't coherent. 

Those who best enabled the president were said to be First Lady Jill Biden, troubled son Hunter Biden, strategist Mike Donilon, counselor Steve Ricchetti, deputy chief of Staff Annie Tomasini and Jill Biden senior aide Anthony Bernal. 

The half-dozen trusted confidants managed Biden's schedule so that no one could see too much of the president's senior moments. 

Biden was fully aware of the perception, refusing an orthopedic boot when he fractured his foot four years ago, leading to a permanent gait in his walking. 

Despite all of the evidence to the contrary, Biden has remained defiant in his final days.

The president told USA Today that he would have won reelection in a rematch against Donald Trump.

Biden, 82, acknowledged his age was an issue, and even admitted he's not so sure how the four years would go after he won this hypothetical second term.

'So far, so good,' he said. 'But who knows what I'm going to be when I'm 86 years old?'

In late July, Biden reluctantly ended his reelection bid and endorsed his No. 2 to take Democrats over the finish line in November. 

But Harris, who never won a primary election, failed to garner support and lost in historic fashion to Trump – including all seven swing states.

Biden said in his exit interview about his single term as president that if he stayed in the race, he likely would have beat Trump again.

'It's presumptuous to say that, but I think yes,' Biden claimed, citing polling he reviewed.

Asked whether he had the vigor to serve another four years in office, though, he was less confident.

'I don't know,' he replied. 'Who the hell knows?'

Days later, he bizarrely repeated that both he and Kamala Harris could've beaten Trump.

'I think I would have beaten Trump – could have beaten Trump,' he said, days before Trump is set to return to power. 'And I think that Kamala could have beaten Trump, would have beaten Trump. It wasn't about – I thought it was important to unify the party,' he said.

He failed to specify why, if Harris might have beaten Trump, she didn't actually come out victorious. But he did admit that he feared a divided party might lose if he stayed on.

The party fractured after his July debate disaster over whether he would be able to prevail while facing record low approval numbers.

'I thought I could win again, thought it was better to unify the party, and I was the greatest honor in my life to be president United States, but I didn't want to be one who caused a party that wasn't unified to lose an election,' he said. 'That's why I stepped aside. But I was confident she could win.' 

As it turned out, Trump beat Harris in all seven swing states and won the popular vote, as he reminded a New York judge Friday on a day he was sentenced of 34 felony counts in his hush money case.