Timeline: Media, White House defended Biden’s fitness for office until debate debacle made it impossible

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President Biden, the White House and their allies in the media have ping-ponged on information related to his mental fitness, going from lashing out at critics of his acuity to spearheading his removal from the 2024 ticket.

People close to Biden insisted he was sharp as a Ginsu and claimed videos suggesting otherwise were "cheap fakes." They cried foul on a deeply reported story about his behind-the-scenes deadline and called a special counsel report about Biden's poor memory "gratuitous." But then much of the legacy media turned on Biden when it appeared he couldn’t defeat former President Trump in November’s election, ultimately resulting in an announcement posted on X that he would step aside.

Here is a timeline of key moments:

Questions about Biden's mental fitness dismissed by White House, press

The White House and Biden's media allies spent much of his term dismissing concerns about his fitness for office.

In 2022, one of the more memorable examples came when White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre laughed off a question about Biden's physical and mental well-being during an interview with CNN. Since-fired host Don Lemon asked, "Does the president have the stamina, physically and mentally, do you think to continue on even after 2024?"

"Don, you're asking me this question," a visibly stunned Jean-Pierre exclaimed. "Oh my gosh. He's the President of the