CEDAR RAPIDS, Iowa — Pete Buttigeig acknowledged Tuesday that Democrats “maybe” would have fared better last year had Joe Biden not run for reelection, while defending the former president’s mental acuity.
“Right now with the benefit of hindsight, I think most people would agree that that’s the case,” the former Transportation secretary told reporters after a town hall here. “We’re also not in a position to wallow in hindsight. We’ve got to get ready for some fundamental tests of the future of this country and this party, some of which are going on this very year, and many which will come next year.”
Buttigeg, Biden’s youngest Cabinet member, was occasionally deployed by the Biden administration and campaign to vouch for the former president’s ability to do the job while in office.
“Every time I needed something from him, from the West Wing, I got it,” Buttigieg said. “And you know, the time I worked closest with him in his last year was around the Baltimore bridge collapse. And what I can tell you is that, you know, the same president that the world saw addressing that was the president I was in the Oval with, insisting that we do a good job and do right by Baltimore. That’s characteristic of my experience with him.”
Buttigieg’s remarks came after reports that David Plouffe, a top campaign aide to former Vice President Kamala Harris, blamed Biden for Harris’ loss in a new book by CNN’s Jake Tapper and Axios’ Alex Thompson. The book, set for release on May 20, is being promoted as an account of Biden’s decision to run “despite evidence of his serious decline — amid desperate efforts to hide the extent of that deterioration.”
In a separate incident, Biden reportedly didn’t recognize the famous actor and longtime acquaintance George Clooney at a fundraiser, according to an excerpt published in The New Yorker on Tuesday.
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