LESTER HOLT: Meanwhile, there are damaging new details tonight about former President Biden. A new book alleges serious concerns about his mental acuity. Gabe Gutierrez joins us now and Gabe, President Biden’s team is now responding to this reporting.
GABE GUTIERREZ: That’s right, Lester. According to an excerpt from the new book obtained by NBC News it was, quote, “obvious to many at a fundraiser last summer that then-President Biden did not know who George Clooney was, even though they were longtime acquaintances and Clooney is one of the most famous men in the world.” The book, by journalists Jake Tapper and Alex Thompson, goes on to say former President Obama, who was also at the event, had to hop in and finish sentences for Biden during photo-ops. In separate excerpts, the authors write that Biden would forget the names of longtime aides and there were internal discussions about putting the president in a wheelchair in a second term. At the time, The White House publicly defended the president's fitness for office. A Biden spokesperson now says the authors did not fact check the book with them adding, “we continue to await anything that shows where Joe Biden had to make a presidential decision or where national security was threatened or where he was unable to do his job. He was a very effective president. Lester.
HOLT: Gabe- Gabe, thank you.
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