Charlamagne blasts Eric Swalwell for denying knowledge of Biden’s decline

Radio host Charlamagne Tha God called out Democratic California Rep. Eric Swalwell on a Thursday podcast after appearing to claim ignorance about former President Joe Biden’s decline during another interview published Tuesday.

Charlamagne repeatedly pressed Swalwell on Biden’s decline during an interview on the June 3 edition of “The Breakfast Club,” but the congressman did not acknowledge knowing about it and minimized his interactions with the former president. On “The Brilliant Idiots,” Charlamagne said Democrats who want to lead their party must be honest about Biden’s decline.

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“I kept asking him a simple question over and over: ‘Why should we ever trust Democrats ever again, knowing that y’all upheld this lie?’” Charlamagne said, playing two clips of questions he asked Swalwell.

In the first, Charlamagne noted that he had just read a new book on the topic called “Original Sin” and accused Democrats of deciding to be “accomplices in the cover-up Biden’s physical and mental decline.” He alleged Democrats said Biden was fit despite “knowing behind the scenes” that he was not.

Rather than acknowledge awareness of the decline, Swalwell asserted numerous Democrats did not have “behind the scenes” access to Biden and said he personally “didn’t spend much time” privately with the former president.

Charlamagne retorted that he had no access to Biden whatsoever and was still able to discern his decline. Swalwell appeared to suggest Charlamagne’s view of Biden was valid, but still did not acknowledge he personally was aware of the former president’s deterioration.

In the second clip, Charlamagne asked Swalwell why Americans should “ever trust the Democratic Party after they lied to us so long about President Biden.”

In response, Swalwell did not address the issue of Biden’s decline at all, instead arguing Americans should trust the party because of their health care policy.

“We clearly can’t trust the Democrats that are currently in power that upheld the lie,” co-host Andrew Schulz said after the clip.

“And that’s what I keep telling them. Anybody that wants to be the future of the party has to throw the Biden shit under the bus,” Charlamagne responded. “Now, Eric and all of these guys will be like, ‘Well, we didn’t know.’ You gotta cut it the fuck out.”

An April book “Fight: Inside the Wildest Battle for the White House” reported that Swalwell was worried about Biden’s mental acuity in 2023, according to The Hill. Swalwell and Biden had reportedly talked at a White House picnic that month, during which the former president did not promptly recognize him, with the congressman needing to provide personal information to jog his memory.

Yet Swalwell in March 2024 published an opinion piece for MSNBC criticizing special counsel Robert Hur for his February 2024 report finding that Biden had a “poor memory.” The congressman also defended Biden’s mental acuity in the piece.

“President Biden put to bed any concerns about his savvy and his cognition when he completely commanded a joint session of Congress — and America’s living rooms — during last week’s State of the Union address,” he wrote.

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