After former President Donald Trump said he wants President Joe Biden to be drug-tested before their first debate, Fox News host Maria Bartiromo said on Sunday that she's skeptical about the claims of Biden's drug use by Republicans, adding "we're not doctors."
Trump and Biden became the presumptive 2024 Republican and Democratic presidential nominees respectively in March following a series of primary wins. Both presidential candidates are set to have their first debate on June 27 hosted by CNN at the network's studio in Georgia, a critical battleground state.
However, during a speech at the Minnesota GOP's Lincoln Reagan Dinner in St. Paul on Friday, the former president demanded Biden take a drug test ahead of the debate, claiming he didn't want him to come in "high as a kite" while referencing Biden's State of the Union (SOTU) address that he gave earlier this year.
"I'm gonna demand a drug test too, by the way. I am, no I really am. I don't want him coming in like the State of the Union, he was high as a kite," Trump said.
However, there is no evidence to suggest Biden is using any kind of drugs.
Newsweek has reached out to Biden's campaign via email for comment.
During Fox News' Sunday Morning Futures With Maria Bartiromo, Bartiromo asked Representatives Byron Donalds and Anna Paulina Luna, both Florida Republicans, if there should be drug testing ahead of the debate.
Donalds, a Biden critic, said he agreed with the drug testing as he reiterated similar remarks Trump had said about Biden as he claimed the president had used performance-enhancing drugs during his SOTU address.
"I absolutely agree with that, there should. You can tell that Joe Biden comes in and is jacked up and as the hour goes by he slowly winds down, so the American people need to understand if they are giving him some injections so that he can actually look like he is coherent and like he is with us because other parts of the time he is not," Donalds said.
Bartiromo responded: "These are obviously very serious charges that he is jacked up, we don't know. We're not doctors. We have no idea."
Luna added that she agreed with the drug testing, "We are talking about someone who has the ability to launch nukes. We need to ensure this individual is essentially capable of not just leading this country but can make those tough decisions."
Meanwhile, Bartiromo asked independent presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr. during Sunday's program about whether or not Biden should be drug tested ahead of the debate.
In response, Kennedy Jr. laughed and did not answer as he continued to state Biden should just have to debate, saying: "I just think that he should have to debate. I don't think it's good for democracy if we don't have presidential debates."
Biden's SOTU address was generally well received per polls and labeled an "unequivocal success."
"In short, Biden had his game on. This was an unequivocal success that will put to rest any talk of another candidate stepping in to replace Biden and will likely mark a turning point in the polls, which have already seen the Trump lead shrink to a statistical tie," Christopher Phelps, a professor of modern American history at the University of Nottingham in the United Kingdom, previously told Newsweek.
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Trump, meanwhile, had previously suggested drug testing before debates back in 2020. In September 2020, Trump posted on then-Twitter that he demands Biden take a drug test ahead of the debate, writing that "his Debate performances have been record setting UNEVEN, to put it mildly. Only drugs could have caused this discrepancy???"
Biden's deputy 2020 campaign manager Kate Bedingfield posted the campaign's statement refuting Trump's claims: "Vice President Biden intends to deliver his debate answers in words. If the president thinks his best case is made in urine he can have at it. We'd expect nothing less from Donald Trump, who pissed away the chance to protect the lives of 200K Americans when he didn't make a plan to stop COVID-19."
Neither candidates took drug tests before the debate last cycle.
Uncommon Knowledge
Newsweek is committed to challenging conventional wisdom and finding connections in the search for common ground.
Newsweek is committed to challenging conventional wisdom and finding connections in the search for common ground.
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