Anthony Fauci defends ‘groggy’ Biden as pressure mounts for president to quit

Anthony Fauci, one of America’s most senior and often controversial medical officials, has defended Joe Biden after his “groggy” performance in his debate with Donald Trump.

Mr Fauci, 83, who stood down as director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases in 2022, said in his interactions with Mr Biden the president had appeared “analytical”.

As pressure mounted on the 81-year-old Mr Biden to stand down, Mr Fauci came to his defence and said it was impossible for a physician to make a meaningful assessment of a person’s mental state based on watching a 90-minute debate.

In an interview on CBS News’ podcast, The Takeout, Mr Fauci said it would be “inappropriate” to call Mr Biden’s debate performance alarming.

“Did he have a bad cold? Did he take an antihistamine to make him groggy? We don’t know what went on,” Mr Fauci said.

“We don’t know what went on and I think it would be unfair and inappropriate to try and diagnose something from just a 90-minute clip.”

He added: “When you go in to brief him, you better really know your topic because he’s going to ask you really relevant questions and he’s very reflective on things and doesn’t just jump out with conclusions or anything and is very analytic.”

Mr Fauci, who served under the former president as well as Mr Biden, played a major role in the US’s efforts to combat the Covid pandemic.

Earlier this week, Mr Fauci took aim an independent candidate Robert F Kennedy Jr, known as a vaccine sceptic.

Speaking to David Axelrod, who led Barack Obama’s first election campaign, he said he remembered a meeting where Mr Kennedy, 70, railed against vaccines.

“The first slide I remember he showed is that: ‘It has been shown that vaccinations are responsible for the following diseases,’ and he gave every disease in the world,” Mr Fauci said.

“For the next 40 minutes or so, he showed slide after slide after slide that day, that make no sense at all.”

He added: “I don’t know what’s going on in his head, but it’s not good.”