Rep. Mary Gay Scanlon (D-PA) and Rep. Ralph Norman (R-SC) debated the acuity of President Joe Biden during a House committee meeting Tuesday, with Scanlon criticizing her colleague—who insisted Biden “is cognitively gone”—for “watching a little too much Fox News.”
The GOP-led House Rules Committee gathered Tuesday to argue the merits of a formal impeachment inquiry into the president, which House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) has said would be voted on this week, even as House Oversight Committee Chairman James Comer (R-KY) struggles to make substantive claims of wrongdoing by the president.
At one point, Norman expressed his doubts about Biden’s health to Scanlon and the other Democrats on the committee.
“Why don’t you get with his handlers—whoever it is—and you can argue, if you think he’s not cognitively gone, I would wager a good bit of money if you got five doctors, they’d tell you the man’s not there,” Norman said. “That’s what America is concerned about.”
Scanlon said she disagreed “vehemently” with Norman’s comments.
“Have you spent any time with Mr. Biden?” she asked.
“Good God, no,” Norman answered.
“No, you’ve been watching a little too much Fox News,” Scanlan replied.
For years, Fox News anchor Sean Hannity, for instance, has made Biden’s mental fitness a topic of criticism and in some cases outright mockery, with the primetime host even unveiling a presidential “sippy cup” on his show a few months after Biden took office.
Norman then criticized Biden for not being interviewed on the right-wing network and for not holding what he deems to be a sufficient number of press conferences.
“What can he get off teleprompter and read? You tell me,” he demanded.
In the “hours” Scanlan has spent with Biden without a teleprompter, she said, “the level of his conversation was way above this committee right now.”
