Donors to President Joe Biden's reelection campaign have expressed worries about his use of cheat sheets in private events, according to a Friday report.
Although most recent presidents have utilized notes in public events to keep them on track, Biden has consulted notecards to answer questions from pre-screened donors in private meetings, Axios reported. This practice has left supporters concerned over whether Biden can handle the campaign or adequately debate his presumptive general election opponent, former president Donald Trump.
Biden's campaign dismissed the concerns in comments to the outlet.
"In news that matters to the American people when it comes to the 2024 election today: Three IVF clinics in Alabama ceased operations out of fear of criminal prosecution by the state—all at the feet of Donald Trump," spokesman Kevin Munoz told Axios. He referenced one of the consequences of an Alabama Supreme Court ruling that determined frozen embryos can be considered children under the state's laws.
At least one donor told Axios on the record that he was impressed by Biden's conduct in the meeting.
"He's always been an extemporaneous speaker, and he spoke off-the-cuff," Fred Hochberg, who served as the head of the Export-Import Bank under former president Barack Obama, told the outlet. "Not scripted at all." Hochberg recounted asking Biden a question about the border, and he said the president "talked about what's going on."
The report comes after Biden earlier this month confused the names of multiple world leaders—saying three times that he attended a 2021 meeting with European politicians who died years earlier. That same week, Special Counsel Robert Hur released a report that revealed Biden in an Oct. 8 interview with investigators could not remember the year his son, Beau, died or when his time as vice president started and ended.
Though voters do have some concern over Trump's age, polls have consistently indicated that large majorities of Americans believe Biden is too old to run again for president or serve a second term in the White House.