Tapper Presses Sen. Coons on Biden Gaffes: ‘With All Due Respect, It Is Not Honest to Say That This Is Just One Night’

TAPPER: “So, with all due respect, it is not — it is not honest to say that this is just one night. There have been moments like this that people have seen in front of the cameras and other moments, but without — with cameras not there. Just two weeks ago — let me just show this clip — there was another moment like this, not just a senior losing a train of thought, but something else going on. Here he is. It was an event about immigration. He tries to interview — introduce DHS Secretary Mayorkas and there’s some sort of glitch. I don’t know what it is. Let’s roll that tape.”

[Clip starts]

Biden: “Thanks to all the members of Congress and Homeland Security Secretary — I’m not sure I’m going to introduce you all the way. But all kidding aside, Secretary Mayorkas —“

[Clip ends]

TAPPER: “I don’t know what that was.”

COONS: “That doesn’t trouble me at all, Jake. Frankly, you can put up a dozen clips of me, of you, of anybody who’s on TV, who speaks publicly all the time, losing their train of thought, misstating who they’re about to introduce, not having a fluid moment. And, if we’re honest with each other, Jake, every time Donald Trump speaks in front of a rally, there’s long stretches where he is saying nonsense, where he’s talking about whether he’d rather be electrocuted or eaten by a shark, where he’s saying nonsensical things about forests bursting into flame or windmills causing cancer. So, to take that little clip and say, aha, Senator Coons, be honest, you know that our president is somehow mentally unfirm, and yet to not put up dozens and dozens of much more alarming examples of the former president — let me cut to the chase with what I think is a simple but important moment of testimony here, Jake. Only former President Trump has a vice president, Secretary of Defense, chief of staff, national security advisor who say he is not morally fit to be president and refuse to support him. The whole cabinet of our current president, the entire Senate, in the Democratic caucus, every governor I know who already supports Joe Biden still supports Joe Biden, and we interact with him and work with him regularly. So, do all of us who are in public life and speaking regularly have slips and moments where we don’t finish our sentence properly or misidentify exactly who we’re introducing? Absolutely. But I have been saying to the campaign senior leadership, our president needs to reassure folks by doing some unscripted, engaging public events soon. Otherwise we’re going to keep having this exact exchange until the cows come home and maybe until November, which I frankly think is a disservice to our country.”