Rep. Van Orden to Newsmax: 'Massive Cover-Up' of Biden's Decline

Rep. Derrick Van Orden, R-Wis., told Newsmax on Tuesday that House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., "is absolutely correct" when he says there has been a "massive cover-up" surrounding President Joe Biden's apparent cognitive decline.

"Listen, the press knew, the Democrat oligarchy knew, their major donors knew, the entire Cabinet knew, including the vice president, that Joe Biden has cognitively declined to the point where he is incapable of leading this country," Van Orden said during an appearance on Newsmax's "American Agenda."

"If you remember, a while ago ... someone took a picture of a card that the president had that had the reporter's face and the questions that the reporter was going to ask the president," he said. "And they kind of blew that off and said, 'This is nothing.' Well, that's not normal.

"The White House just said that they're not going to send questions to reporters to ask the president any longer. They never should have been doing that to begin with. But the press knew that they've been doing this for years.

"So, in fact, there has been a massive cover-up by the mainstream media, the Cabinet, other members of the government, and the Democrat oligarchy covering for the president of the United States," he continued.

"That should terrify everybody, because if we are attacked by a foreign adversary, you have about six minutes to make a decision on whether or not to push a button that could potentially destroy the entire planet. And I'm old enough to remember the Cold War.

"So the stakes are real and they are high, and it's time that we do something about this," Van Orden said.

Democrats in both the House and the Senate gathered in Washington, D.C., on Tuesday to hold separate meetings on the viability of Biden's bid for reelection. Following his shaky and halting debate performance against Trump late last month, many from within Biden's own party have called for him to step down as the presidential nominee.

Van Orden said that the mood on the House floor on Tuesday was "startling" because "about one-half of the chamber ... looked like all their dogs got run over by a car."

"The Democrats are in absolute disarray," he said. "They're moping around. They're paranoid. They're looking over their shoulder all the time because, for the first time since I've been in Congress, the press is actually asking them very difficult questions and following up on those questions.

"So the Democrat Party is not used to the mainstream media holding them accountable. And so it's a great thing to see, as a Republican, my Democrat colleagues actually having to answer and stand up for what they believe in and say things publicly on the record and not base their decisions on emotion. It's fantastic to see and I think it's actually going to be good for the country."

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