XPost: alt.fan.rush-limbaugh, alt.politics.republicans, alt.computer.workshop
'Kessler Tells Halperin WaPo Tried To Cover Biden’s Decline: "There Was
A Lot Of Effort," But It Never Came Together'
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https://www.realclearpolitics.com/video/2025/08/07/kessler_tells_halperin_wapo_tried_to_cover_bidens_decline_there_was_a_lot_of_effort_but_it_never_came_together.html>
'Mark Halperin grilled exiting "Washington Post" fact-checker Glenn
Kessler over the paper's lack of coverage of then-President Joe Biden's physical and mental decline.
MARK HALPERIN, HOST: Regarding Joe Biden. When you looked at the
question of whether the videos being played largely in conservative
media that showed apparent cognitive decline of the president, what
conclusion did you reach in Fact Checker about those videos?
GLENN KESSLER, FORMER WASHINGTON POST FACT-CHECKER: Well, you're talking
about when he supposedly meandered off to talk to the parachutists?
Yeah. So that fact check was looking specifically at how that video was
being portrayed on news sites.
MARK HALPERIN: Yes, sir.
GLENN KESSLER: And what we did was we went and got the full video in the
full context, because it looked like the way it was cut, and
particularly distributed by the RNC, it looked like Joe Biden was
wandering off and he didn't show him talking to parachutists. What we
showed was that he was talking to parachutists. And I've said this
before, fact checks are a complement to the news coverage, not a
supplement.
Yes, sir. The overall context of the Washington Post coverage, we had
coverage about, you know, was he too old? We had columnists saying he
shouldn't be running again.
And that fact was specifically about that video distributed by the RNC.
MARK HALPERIN: Understand, but the power of the Pinocchios and the power
of the fact check, when you write that, people say that and say, the
Washington Post is saying that that video is not reflective of Joe
Biden's cognitive decline. That's what people take from that. They do.
They do. Glenn, they do. You know the power that you had in that job.
So do you think the Washington Post, how would you rate the job the
Washington Post did in covering Joe Biden's, not his age, not whether
David Ignatius thought he should run again, but how good a job would you
say the Post did in covering the reality of Joe Biden's cognitive
decline?
GLENN KESSLER: I would say, so there was a lot of effort to produce a
story that would look at very carefully at what seemed to be a cognitive decline. It never came together because we couldn't get enough people on
the record.
MARK HALPERIN: Glenn, Glenn, do you know the moment where Joe Biden
spoke to a dead Congresswoman at a public event? Are you familiar with
that moment? Yes, yes, yes.
Okay. What kind of sourcing did you need to say Joe Biden was suffering cognitive decline? Did you see him trailing off regularly?
What kind of sourcing was needed?
GLENN KESSLER: I, you know, I can't get too deep in the weeds of what
happened at my former newsroom.
MARK HALPERIN: You weren't in all the meetings, but you read the
coverage. You read the coverage.
GLENN KESSLER: I'm telling you, there was a lot of effort to produce the
story, you know, that you are asking for, and it didn't come together.
That is my understanding. I was not in the meetings.
Understood. And yes, in retrospect, one could say, God, that was a real
missed opportunity. It's also difficult when you're taking on the
president of the United States and saying, and you want to say, okay, we
think there's a cognitive decline and we want to get people on the
record as actually saying this.
I mean, and because it's a very serious accusation. And you know that on
the left, there's all this chatter about Trump's cognitive issues. Now,
you know, it shouldn't.
MARK HALPERIN: But Glenn, when you write a column that says the RNC is producing misleading video because Joe Biden wandered off and talked to paratroopers, that is taking the credibility and power of you, the fact
checker column and the Washington Post and saying, in effect, not this
one little thing is wrong, but, oh, let's remind you that he talked to a
dead congresswoman. You are saying in that column to any normal reader,
the Washington Post is saying the chatter of that cognitive decline is
made up'
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