Biden says he could 'beat the hell out of' authors of new book arguing his cognitive decline

Former President Joe Biden joked Friday he could take on those who questioned his mental faculties following his first public remarks since announcing he was diagnosed with prostate cancer.

Biden's statement comes after several books have been released detailing his mental deterioration while in office, including the book, "Original Sin: President Biden's Decline, Its Cover-up, and His Disastrous Choice to Run Again," that was released May 20. 

"You can see that I'm mentally incompetent, I can't walk," Biden quipped with reporters Friday after speaking at a Memorial Day event. "And I could beat the hell out of both of them."

Biden appeared to be referencing the book's authors, Jake Tapper of CNN and Alex Thompson of Axios. 

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The reporters' book claims that Biden struggled to string together coherent sentences for campaign ad videos, that his Cabinet meetings were "so scripted" and that Biden's team allegedly plotted a cover-up to hide just how severely his mental faculties had declined.

But Biden's team has pushed back on the material included in the book. 

"There is nothing in this book that shows Joe Biden failed to do his job, as the authors have alleged, nor did they prove their allegation that there was a cover up or conspiracy," a Biden spokesperson said in a statement to Fox News Digital. "Nowhere do they show that our national security was threatened or where the President wasn't otherwise engaged in the important matters of the Presidency. In fact, Joe Biden was an effective President who led our country with empathy and skill."

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In addition to the publication of multiple books this year chronicling the deterioration of Biden's mental faculties, leaked audio recordings of Biden's October 2023 interview with former Special Counsel Robert Hur were released in May, showing that Biden struggled to not slur his words and even appeared to forget the year his son died.

Biden revealed May 18 that he had an "aggressive form" of prostate cancer, and his office later said he had never received a prostate cancer diagnosis before. Biden told reporters Friday that he is "optimistic" about his diagnosis and is currently receiving treatment in the form of a pill. 

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"My expectation is we're going to be able to beat this," Biden said. 

Earlier Friday, Biden appeared at a Memorial Day sponsored by the Delaware Commission of Veteran Affairs where he honored service members who had lost their lives. 

"We come together and remember the debt we owe to the American military," Biden said at the event, sponsored by the Delaware Commission of Veteran Affairs. 

"The military is a solid spine, the spine of our nation," he said. "Our troops, our veterans, our military families, and our Gold Star families in particular. Only around 1% of all Americans defend 99% of us - 1%. Just 1% of Americans risk the ultimate sacrifice. We owe them so much more than we can ever repay them."