Former President Donald Trump rejected the claim that he had forgotten his wife’s name during a recent speech, a claim made by President Joe Biden on late-night television.
Biden joked during an appearance on Late Night with Seth Meyers on Monday that Trump had forgotten his wife’s name, Melania, during this year’s Conservative Political Action Conference. The former president claimed the “radical Democrats” were pushing a fake story because their own candidate, Biden, is “a mental and physical basket case,” as many have questioned if Biden is mentally fit to serve as president.
Trump explained he had not forgotten his wife’s name during his CPAC speech but was talking about how his wife is very popular, prompting the CPAC audience to go “wild.” Trump then turned to CPAC Chairman Matt Schlapp and his wife Mercedes to say audience members “really like the first lady,” prompting some to claim that Trump confused Schlapp’s wife for Melania Trump.
“So this got taken as the fact that I thought Mercedes was the first lady,” Trump said in a post on Truth Social. “It has nothing to do with that, these people are really dishonest.”
The former president also discussed times when he appeared to mix up Biden and former President Barack Obama, explaining that he did this for “comedic reasons and sarcasm.” Trump added that he intentionally says Obama and not Biden because “a lot of people say that Obama’s running the country, not Biden, because he’s sleeping all the time.”
Trump’s explanation of his apparent gaffes comes after Biden chose not to conduct a cognitive test when undergoing this year’s physical exam, with the White House arguing the president does not need one. Rep. Ronny Jackson (R-TX), who served as a physician in the White House under former Presidents George W. Bush, Obama, and Trump, called the report “ridiculous” and that it was “the White House’s effort to check the box and hope we’ll move on from this.”
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“This was a complete joke by Dr. O’Connor,” Jackson said. “If he were serious about this, he would have done a thorough, comprehensive, objective exam that included a cognitive exam, and he would have stood up before the press in the press briefing room, and he would have defended it. He would have answered questions. But he doesn’t because he doesn’t want to answer the questions because he’s going to have to lie.”
A recent poll between Trump and Biden, the two leading candidates in the 2024 presidential primary races for their respective parties, found that Trump is leading Biden across seven swing states, including Arizona, Nevada, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, Michigan, Wisconsin, and Georgia. Additionally, the poll found that about 8 in 10 voters said Biden was too old to serve as president, while almost 6 in 10 voters described Trump as dangerous. The poll also found that more recipients said Trump is more mentally fit than Biden.