Louisiana Sen. John Kennedy (R) is raising new concerns about the national media’s handling of former President Joe Biden’s health, saying that the press spent years ignoring signs of cognitive decline that were apparent to the public.
In an appearance on Fox News’ “Hannity” Tuesday night, the Louisiana lawmaker accused reporters of sacrificing public trust in order to protect political narratives.
Kennedy reacted to Biden’s recent diagnosis of an aggressive form of prostate cancer, which the White House confirmed has metastasized to the bone.
The news has prompted questions about how long the former president may have been suffering from the illness.
Dr. Ezekiel Emanuel, a former adviser in the Obama administration, stated that Biden likely had the cancer “at the start of his presidency in 2021,” asserting that the disease couldn’t have developed in “the last 100, 200 days.”
Throughout Biden’s presidency, viral clips circulated showing him stumbling through speeches, wandering on stages or appearing confused.
When these incidents were raised publicly, the administration attempted to discredit them. Then-White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre called the videos “cheap fakes,” suggesting they were misleading or taken out of context.
Kennedy said Americans didn’t need edited footage to recognize something was wrong.
“We saw a president who couldn’t finish a sentence without taking a nap,” Kennedy said, per The Daily Caller.
“We saw an elderly man who talked like he was from outer space. He walked like he was underwater. You could bake a Thanksgiving turkey in the time it took him to walk across the stage.”
According to Kennedy, the more troubling issue is not just the condition of the former president but the media’s failure to cover it honestly.
“My biggest concern with all of this has to do with the state of the media in America today,” he said. “I watched bits and pieces of the White House Correspondents’ Association dinner this year.”
“I listened to speaker after speaker, all Washington reporters, defend freedom of the press. I kept thinking they wouldn’t have to defend it if they didn’t work so hard to undermine it every day.”
He criticized the majority of media outlets for ignoring warning signs and shutting down questions about Biden’s health.
“Ninety percent of the American media not only never reported that, but when Democrats and many Republicans raised the issue, they pushed back,” Kennedy said.
CNN’s Jake Tapper and Axios’ Alex Thompson recently released a book detailing Biden’s health struggles while in office. Kennedy questioned why it took so long for mainstream outlets to address issues that, he says, were plainly visible for years.
“There are other examples. The Steele dossier. The Hunter Biden laptop. I could go on and on and on, but that to me is what makes me want to stick my head in the oven,” Kennedy said.
“Today, after Mr. Tapper’s book is coming out, the media is happy to report it, but none of them have taken responsibility for not reporting what was so obvious to the American people. Hypocrisy never takes a vacation around here, I can tell you.”
