President Joe Biden told more than 20 Democratic governors that he is in good health with the exception of his brain function while discussing the fate of his presidential campaign on Wednesday, sources told the New York Times.
Biden assured the governors that despite the growing calls for him to drop out of the presidential race, he would be staying in, two people who participated in the meeting and several others briefed on his comments told the NYT. In response to a question about his health from Hawaii Gov. Josh Green, the 81-year-old said that all was fine with him except for his “brain.”
“It’s just my brain,” Biden told Green, which at least one governor took as a serious comment that left them confused, the NYT reported. At least three others in the room apparently said they interpreted the comment as a joke.
“He was clearly making a joke,” Jen O’Malley Dillon, Biden’s campaign chair, told the NYT, adding that he said “all kidding aside” after the comment.