The White House has pushed back against allegations from some Republican officials that President Joe Biden may be using drugs to enhance his public performance, including this year’s State of the Union address.
Republican leaders say they’re concerned Biden will be using drugs to stay alert during the upcoming debates against former President Donald Trump, and are calling for mandatory drug tests.
The White House has refused to have Biden submit to the drug tests and said Republicans are simply surprised by the president’s “confidence.”
White House spokesman Andrew Bates said that Republicans are “intimidated” by the 81-year-old president.
“It’s telling that Republican officials are unable to stop announcing how intimidated they remain by [Biden’s] State of the Union performance,” Bates said. “But after losing every public and private negotiation with President Biden — and after seeing him succeed where they failed across the board, ranging from actually rebuilding America’s infrastructure to actually reducing violent crime to actually outcompeting China — it tracks that those same Republican officials mistake confidence for a drug.”
The drug use allegations first emerged when Sen. Tim Scott, R-S.C., said on Fox News that Biden should submit to a blood test before debating Trump.
“If you saw the State of the Union and you watched that performance, it was surreal. There was something going on,” Scott stated.
At a recent campaign rally, Trump himself claimed Biden looked “high as a kite” during the State of the Union address and repeated the call for mandatory drug tests before their debates.
“I just want to debate this guy … and I’m going to demand a drug test too, by the way,” Trump claimed. “I am. No, I really am.”
“I don’t want him coming in like the State of the Union,” he said. “He was high as a kite. I said, ‘Is that Joe up there?'”
“And by the end of the evening … he was exhausted, right? No, we’re going to demand a drug test,” Trump said.
Trump’s campaign is also challenging the Biden team to an additional two debates before the general election, according to Trump spokeswoman Karoline Leavitt, to a total of four — with drug tests as part of the condition.
“Why not? What does Joe Biden have to hide?” Leavitt asked during a Newsmax about their request for pre-debate blood tests. “This is the same candidate who had to take five cuts for a 13-second announcement video that he would finally agree to these debates.
“So if Joe Biden really wants to prove that he’s mentally and physically able to be president of the United States without artificial stimulants, then he should agree to this demand by President Trump,” she said.
Trump “has agreed to CNN debate in June to an ABC News debate in September, and we’re also asking for two more debates — one on the Fox News Channel, and another this summer as well, in addition to a vice presidential debate,” Leavitt concluded.
The White House strongly denies Republican allegations that Biden is using drugs.