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Sen. Lindsey Graham says he thinks presidential candidates should all take cognitive tests.
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Biden and Trump should both have to prove their fitness to run for office, he said to CBS.
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His comments come as Biden faces mounting pressure to quit the race over health concerns.
Sen. Lindsay Graham says he thinks anyone running for president should undergo a cognitive test — including his longtime ally, former President Donald Trump.
Speaking on CBS’ “Face The Nation” on Sunday, the South Carolina Republican said that given “70% of the public believes that President Biden is not mentally and physically capable of being president,” he should take a cognitive test to prove his mental capabilities.
CBS host Robert Costa then asked if Graham thought Trump should have to take the test as well.
“Yes, yes, I think both. All nominees for President going into the future should have neurological exams as part of an overall physical exam,” Graham said.
He added: “Here’s what I worry about, that our allies see a compromised Joe Biden, that our enemies see a compromised Joe Biden, and I’m offended by the idea that he shouldn’t take a competency test given all the evidence in front of us.”
Trump challenged Biden to take a test as well before the CNN presidential debate that saw the latter delivering an abysmal performance.
Speaking at a Turning Point Action convention in Detroit on June 15, Trump said: “He doesn’t even know what the word ‘inflation’ means. I think he should take a cognitive test like I did.”
Trump took says he took a cognitive test in 2018, and has since bragged about how he “aced” it “very hard.”
However, the test’s creator said the assessment Trump likely took was “not meant to measure IQ or intellectual skill in any way,” but instead to detect if someone has possible cognitive problems like memory issues.
Any adult without cognitive issues should get a high score, per the creators of the test. Trump has also not taken the test again after 2018.
Graham’s comments come as Biden grapples with intense backlash after his bad debate performance on June 27.
Several of Biden’s supporters have called for him to step aside from the race.
Five House Democrats have called on Biden to quit the race, predicting that he would lose to Trump in the November elections.
However, Biden has stayed resolute despite the mounting pressures. He called his mumbling and incoherent sentences during the debate a “bad episode” and “no indication of any serious condition,” in an interview with ABC News on Friday.
Since the debate, his campaign has put forth a series of reasons trying to explain his less than stellar performance, including a cold, jet lag, and bad prep.
Representatives for Biden, Trump and Graham didn’t immediately respond to requests for comment from Business Insider sent outside regular business hours.
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