CNN Saturday Morning Table for Five host Abby Phillip was confident that Democrats who covered up President Joe Biden’s mental decline should face consequences, and while that may sound like a random act of journalism from CNN, it was more of a way for Phillip to cover up her own role in dismissing the idea that Biden wasn’t all there.
Phillip came out of a commercial break reporting, ‘“Joe Biden totally effed us.’ That a quote from a Kamala Harris official in a new book that paints a damning picture of how far the White House went to hide his decline. Among the revelations from Jake Tapper and Alex Thompson's book, Biden's team hid him from his staff and even members of his cabinet.”
Moving on to some examples, Phillip added, “They considered that he may need a wheelchair in the future, and contradicted warnings from his doctor, and Biden didn't recognize George Clooney, one of his longtime supporters and, of course, one of the most famous movie stars and faces on the planet.”
Phillip concluded her monologue, “But as the scandal branches grow. What about the people who have political runways, the Pete Buttigieges of the world? Hitting a Midwest tour. Kamala Harris thinking about a run for California governor. Will and should their futures be impacted by this scandal? It kind of seems like the answer has to be yes, right? Especially for someone like Kamala Harris, who was in the White House.”
It is interesting that Phillip cited the Clooney fundraiser, because that is the same event where an absent-minded Biden had to be ushered off the stage by former President Barack Obama because Phillip’s reporting of that incident 11 months ago was very different.
On June 17, 2024, Phillip began CNN NewsNight, “The news a lot of Americans see and the manipulation that's distorting the 2024 election.”
After the title sequence ended, Phillip portrayed Biden as someone whose age was being weaponized against him despite him being one of two old men in the race, “The November choice is between two old men. We know that. But tonight I want to talk about the Joe Biden that Republicans want you to see and the pipeline of videos that aren't telling the full truth. Now, those videos are probably right now clogging the public consciousness as Americans start to think about their votes. The RNC wants to weaponize questions around Biden's age.”
As for the video of Obama and Biden, Phillip lamented, “The latest video shoving this question in voters faces is this one from a star-studded fundraiser a couple days ago. President Biden and former President Obama on stage, waving to this crowd, and then there's a six-second pause, and then a walk off the stage… It's far from the only example of this push-pull between what the president is seen and heard doing and how Republicans and conservative news allies are labeling what he's seen and heard doing.”
At the time, Phillip justified her take by citing fake news stories going around the internet that alleged things like “that [Biden] pooped himself,” but a proper journalist should know that does not disprove the video with Obama, Special Counsel Robert Hur’s report that claimed Biden forgot when Beau died, confusing French President Emmanuel Macron and former German Chancellor Angela Merkel for Francois Mitterrand and Helmut Kohl, both of whom are dead, or any of the other public moments that suggested Biden was losing it.
Here are transcripts for the June 17 and May 17 shows:
CNN Saturday Morning Table for Five
5/17/2025
10:16 AM ET
ABBY PHILLIP: Welcome back. “Joe Biden totally effed us.” That a quote from a Kamala Harris official in a new book that paints a damning picture of how far the White House went to hide his decline. Among the revelations from Jake Tapper and Alex Thompson's book, Biden's team hid him from his staff and even members of his cabinet.
They considered that he may need a wheelchair in the future, and contradicted warnings from his doctor, and Biden didn't recognize George Clooney, one of his longtime supporters and, of course, one of the most famous movie stars and faces on the planet.
But as the scandal branches grow. What about the people who have political runways, the Pete Buttigieges of the world? Hitting a Midwest tour. Kamala Harris thinking about a run for California governor. Will and should their futures be impacted by this scandal? It kind of seems like the answer has to be yes, right? Especially for someone like Kamala Harris, who was in the White House.
***
CNN Newsnight
6/17/2024
10:00 PM ET
ABBY PHILLIP: The news a lot of Americans see and the manipulation that's distorting the 2024 election. That's tonight on NewsNight.
Good evening, I'm Abby Phillip in New York. The November choice is between two old men. We know that. But tonight I want to talk about the Joe Biden that Republicans want you to see and the pipeline of videos that aren't telling the full truth. Now, those videos are probably right now clogging the public consciousness as Americans start to think about their votes. The RNC wants to weaponize questions around Biden's age.
And the follow-up to that question is, is he mentally fit enough to do the job again? It's a question that Donald Trump hopes is on voters' minds.
DONALD TRUMP: I think you should take a cognitive test like I did. I took a cognitive test and I aced it.
PHILLIP: The latest video shoving this question in voters faces is this one from a star-studded fundraiser a couple days ago. President Biden and former President Obama on stage, waving to this crowd, and then there's a six-second pause, and then a walk off the stage. The New York Post screamed, “Freeze up.” The White House fired back, accusing the conservative outlet of wildly misinterpreting what happened. It's far from the only example of this push-pull between what the president is seen and heard doing and how Republicans and conservative news allies are labeling what he's seen and heard doing.
Now, you don't have to scroll too far down on the RNC's research account to find posts winking and nodding that Biden isn't all there. Posts like this one, showing Biden at the G7 summit wandering around. Now, the RNC would have you believe that this was all aimlessly. The New York Post saw the video and put the stills on the front page, “meanderer-in-chief.” The problem is, that is also wildly misleading. Biden wasn't staring off into the distance like a puppy distracted by a bird. He was watching a diving demonstration. He had a conversation with those aerial stuntmen.
