President Joe Biden reportedly lashed out at a House Democrat after he raised concerns about the party’s electoral prospects if a change was not made at the top of the ticket.
The president reportedly had a “tense” Zoom call with Democrats shortly before the assassination attempt on former President Donald Trump.
“The call was even worse than the debate,” one person who was part of the call told Puck News. “He was rambling; he’d start an answer, then lose his train of thought, then would just say ‘whatever.’ He really couldn’t complete an answer. I lost a ton of respect for him.”
Another person who was on the call said, “The president was rambling, dismissive of concerns, unable or unprepared to present a campaign strategy, and had a particularly troubling exchange with Jason Crow—saying to him, ‘Tell me something you’ve never done with your Bronze Star like my son.'”
The comment was directed to Rep. Jason Crow (D-Colo.), who received a Bronze Star and was perceived as comparing him to Biden’s son Beau Biden, who died in 2015.
A participant of the call told Puck, “Had the assassination attempt not occurred an hour later, I imagine 50 people on that Zoom were ready to come out publicly against him.”
The Biden campaign pushed back on the description of him as “rambling” and losing his train of thought, according to Puck.
However, the report added, “The campaign did not, however, dispute this next part, about Crow and his Bronze Star. In a video of the Zoom that I was able to view, you can hear Biden chastising Crow, who asked about the importance of national security to voters.”
According to a recording of the call, Biden lashed out at Crow, saying, “First of all, I think you’re dead wrong on national security,”
He went on:
“You saw what happened recently in terms of the meeting we had with NATO. I put NATO together. Name me a foreign leader who thinks I’m not the most effective leader in the world on foreign policy. Tell me! Tell me who the hell that is! Tell me who put NATO back together! Tell me who enlarged NATO, tell me who did the Pacific basin! Tell me who did something that you’ve never done with your Bronze Star like my son—and I’m proud of your leadership, but guess what, what’s happening, we’ve got Korea and Japan working together, I put Aukus together, anyway! … Things are in chaos, and I’m bringing some order to it. And again, find me a world leader who’s an ally of ours who doesn’t think I’m the most respected person they’ve ever—”
According to the report, Biden’s “emotion” was “garbling his words.”
“It’s not breaking through, Mr. President,” Crow responded.
However, the president fired back, “You oughta talk about it… On national security, nobody has been a better president than I’ve been. Name me one. Name me one! So I don’t want to hear that crap!”
