Joe Biden's disastrous debate blamed on bad preparation, exhaustion
June 30 (Reuters) - President Joe Biden's train-wreck debate with Republican opponent Donald Trump followed a series of decisions by his most senior advisers that critics now point to as wrong-headed, interviews with Democratic allies, donors and former and current aides show.
Trump, 78, repeated a series of well-worn, glaring falsehoods
during the 90-minute debate on Thursday, including claims that he actually won the 2020 election.
Biden, 81, failed to refute them and his fumbling, halting performance has sparked
calls from Democrats for him to end his quest for a second term and for "soul-searching" or resignations among top aides.
"My only request was make sure he's rested before the debate, but he was exhausted. He was unwell," said one person who said they appealed to Biden's top aides in the days before, to no avail. "What a bad decision to send him out looking sick and exhausted."
Others were even more pointed.
"It is my belief that he was over-coached, over-practiced. And I believe [senior aide] Anita Dunn... put him in a venue that was conducive for Trump and not for him,” said John Morgan, a Florida-based attorney and major Biden fundraiser.
Morgan said Dunn and her husband, Bob Bauer, the president’s attorney who played Trump in pre-debate rehearsals, should "be fired forever and never let back anywhere near the campaign."
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