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lite.cnn.com - on gopher - inofficial | |
ARTICLE VIEW: | |
Former Biden aide pushes back on concerns about former president’s | |
health in testimony to House panel | |
By Annie Grayer, CNN | |
Updated: | |
6:28 PM EDT, Fri September 5, 2025 | |
Source: CNN | |
One of ’s former top aides pushed back Friday on concerns about the | |
former president’s health in a closed-door interview with the House | |
Oversight Committee, a person familiar with the matter told CNN. | |
Andrew Bates, who had served as deputy assistant to the president and | |
senior deputy press secretary, told the Republican-led panel that he | |
believed Biden could have won reelection, but ultimately agreed with | |
the former president’s decision to drop out of the race after | |
assessing polling data and the political damage from Biden’s | |
disastrous debate performance, the source said. | |
Bates’ testimony to the committee comes as the panel has interviewed | |
a from the Biden White House in recent months as part of its | |
investigation into the former president’s cognitive decline and | |
possible efforts to conceal it from the public. | |
Another source told CNN that Bates said after he had time to process | |
the president’s decision and a turn in public polling during the | |
final week of his candidacy, he agreed Biden had made the right | |
decision to withdraw. | |
Bates stated that he interacted with Biden in person a little over once | |
a month and engaged with more than 20 people to discuss Biden’s | |
functioning in order to respond to press questions about the former | |
president’s health, that source added. | |
In his opening statement obtained by CNN, Bates defended Biden, while | |
criticizing Republicans for not investigating potential conflicts of | |
interest in the Trump administration. | |
“In the White House, it was universally understood that Joe Biden was | |
in charge. That is completely consistent with my personal experience | |
with the president,” Bates said. | |
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