President Joe Biden suggested to Democratic governors that he may limit evening events after 8 p.m. so he can get more sleep, according to two sources familiar with the exchange.
Biden met with the governors on Wednesday evening as he sought to assuage allies’ concerns after a disastrous debate performance left Democrats anxious about the president’s ability to serve and campaign for re-election.
He also joked that while his health was fine, “it’s just my brain,” one source told NBC News.
“He was clearly making a joke and then said ‘all kidding aside,’” Biden campaign manager Jen O’Malley Dillon Thursday.
The remarks were first reported by The New York Times and are part of a stream of leaks about the contents of the meeting, which was not attended by staff for the governors, the White House or the campaign. He also said he’d seen a doctor after the debate, contradicting a White House claim from earlier.
California Gov. Gavin Newsom, a Biden surrogate who was on the call and is viewed as a potential future Democratic presidential candidate, said Biden’s 8 p.m. comment was not “literal.”
“It was more of a rhetorical framework of just being fit and rested because he was burning at both ends, you know, that last 10 or so days. And I think that was sort of what he was reflecting, is just a more steady focus on being his energetic self,” Newsom said.
A fourth person with knowledge of the meeting downplayed the president’s comments about needing more sleep, adding that Biden acknowledged generally he does need to be better at finding time to rest.
The Biden campaign defended the remarks, saying presidents need a balanced schedule.
“President Bush went to bed at 9, and President Obama made dinner at 6:30. Normal presidents strike a balance, and so does Joe Biden,” campaign spokesman Kevin Munoz said in a statement. “Hardly the same rigor as Donald Trump who spends half of his day ranting on Truth Social about plans that would cause a recession and other half golfing.”
In the week since the debate, Democrats have expressed frustration over both Biden’s debate performance and how he and White House staff have handled allies’ response to it.
The president is expected to do damage control in an interview with ABC News on Friday morning that will air that evening, but some doubt it will be enough.
“One interview is not going to fix this,” said Rep. Debbie Dingell, D-Mich., on MSNBC Thursday. “He’s got one thing to do, which is to get up and go out to prove to people that he can do the job, will do the job, and has the stamina.”
California Rep. Scott Peters, a Democrat, questioned Biden’s ability to win in November in an interview with a local CBS affiliate and said he wasn’t sure he could support the president at this point.
“The campaign has been very, I think, arrogant in its response,” he said, arguing they needed to turn around the numbers in swing states. “If they don’t have a plan, then I think we have to move in a different direction.”
But Peters and Dingell stopped short of calling for Biden to step aside as the party’s nominee for president. Just two House Democrats have publicly said Biden should leave the race.
Still, some allies are maintaining staunch support.
Newsom hit the campaign trail in Michigan on Thursday, touting the governor’s meeting.
“I mean this with absolute conviction,” he said of the meeting. “That was the Joe Biden I remember from two weeks ago. That was the Joe Biden that I remember from two years ago. That’s the Joe Biden that I’m looking forward to reelecting President of the United States.”
