CNN panel gets heated in debate over Biden's ability to do the job: 'It's speculation!'
A CNN panel got into a heated debate on Wednesday over whether President Biden was capable of doing the job, as commentator Ana Navarro insisted questions about Biden's health and decline were all "speculation" because she's spent time with him.
After presidential historian Tim Naftali insisted President Biden did not have to drop out of the race and did so in order to unify his party, the Manhattan Institute's Reihan Salam pushed back and said it was "so obviously false" and that Biden was "manifestly incapable" of doing the job.
Biden addressed the nation on Wednesday in his first public appearance since he decided to bow out of the race.
"Tell me how you know he’s manifestly incapable?" Naftali shot back.
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Salam said Biden's decline has been widely discussed and added that the "deeper question is who is actually in charge at any given time? You know, this notion that he’s only sharp for six hours a day? This is an incredibly volatile moment, in part because of his failures."
Navarro jumped in to attack Salam's thinking and noted the time she'd spent with the president.
"No. Everything you're saying, I'm sorry, is speculation. Let me tell you what is not speculation," Navarro, also a co-host on "The View," said. "It is speculation! It is speculation! Because actually, unlike you, I’ve actually seen the guy at 9:00 at night. I have seen him after he has had five different events in 24 hours."
Salam shot back at Navarro and wondered, "Might that cloud your judgment?"
"Do you think that makes you more objective?" he added.
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"Well, I think the fact that I have actually seen him, whereas you're just reading gossip and