JUST ASKING QUESTIONS

Chris Wallace Confronts GOP Senator for Questioning Biden’s Mental Fitness: ‘Is That Helpful?’

“That actually was a quote from a Politico story that I pasted into a tweet and then I simply asked the question,” the Texas Republican insisted on Sunday.

Fox News anchor Chris Wallace pressed Sen. John Cornyn (R-TX) on his recent tweet that questioned President Joe Biden’s mental fitness and seemingly suggested Biden’s a Manchurian candidate, asking the senator on Sunday if comments like that are “helpful.”

Circling back to the concerted efforts during the 2020 election by Republicans and conservative media to paint the 78-year-old Biden as struggling with cognitive decline, Cornyn referenced a recent Politico article while pondering that someone else is actually in charge of the federal government.

“The president is not doing cable news interviews,” he tweeted. “Tweets from his account are limited and, when they come, unimaginably conventional. The public comments are largely scripted. Biden has opted for fewer sit down interviews with mainstream outlets and reporters. Invites the question: is he really in charge?”

Interviewing Cornyn on Fox News Sunday alongside Sen. Chris Coons (D-DE), Wallace spent much of the segment discussing whether there was any chance of bipartisanship in today’s Washington. As the interview wound down, Wallace then brought up the Texas Republican’s tweet.

“My question I guess is, Senator Cornyn, is that helpful to be sending out a tweet questioning President Biden’s mental faculties?” Wallace wondered aloud.

“Well, Chris, thank you for the question because I think there’s been a lot of confusion in the Twitterverse about that,” Cornyn reacted before insisting that he was “just asking questions” about Biden’s election promises.

“That actually was a quote from a Politico story that I pasted into a tweet and then I simply asked the question,” the conservative lawmaker declared. “What I’m trying to do is reconcile the Joe Biden we heard on January 20th, that many of us know of his previous service in the United States Senate, from the Joe Biden we are seeing now jamming through $1.9 trillion in spending bills.”

“I’ve learned in Washington you not only need to listen to what people say, you need to watch what they do,” he continued. “And so far, there’s a conflict that I’m trying to reconcile and I bet I’m not the only one.”

Wallace, meanwhile, kept the pressure on Cornyn, asking the senator if he has “questions as to whether or not Joe Biden is really in charge and whether, frankly, he's up to the job.”

Cornyn, for his part, claimed the tweet “was not meant to suggest” anything about the president’s cognitive abilities or physical health.

“I know some people have suggested that and that certainly wasn't my intention,” he asserted. “I simply tried to reconcile the rhetoric with the reality. And we need the reality to match the rhetoric and it's not matching right now.”

See more of our coverage in your search results.

ADD THE DAILY BEAST ON GOOGLE

Justin BaragonaSenior Media Reporter

Got a tip? Send it to The Daily Beast here.