President Biden only just left office. And already there’s concerns about his health.
Because the U.S. House Speaker has shared ugly details about Biden’s failing health.
Ahead of the inauguration, U.S. House Speaker Mike Johnson sat down with a reporter from The Free Press to discuss a whole bevy of issues and inside baseball on The Hill from the past several months. One story that the House Speaker shared with The Free Press’s Bari Weiss raised everyone’s eyebrows concerning Joe Biden and his obviously failing mental health. House Speaker Mike Johnson shared details of a time when Joe Biden literally couldn’t remember something he had just done a few weeks prior.
Mike Johnson Reflects on Joe Biden’s Intellectual Decline: A Troubling Anecdote from the Oval Office
In a candid interview with Bari Weiss for Honestly on Friday, Speaker of the House Mike Johnson shared a concerning personal experience with President Joe Biden. The anecdote, which highlights what Johnson describes as Biden’s intellectual decline, offers a rare glimpse into the difficulties facing the outgoing president.
The story centers around a meeting Johnson attended at the White House in January 2024, during the third week of the month. Johnson was invited to meet with Biden’s top national security advisers and cabinet chiefs, ostensibly to discuss the latest aid package for Ukraine. While Johnson ultimately agreed to support the aid package, he had another important issue on his mind: a recent executive order by Biden that paused the approval of new permits for the export of American liquefied natural gas (LNG) to European allies. This decision was particularly relevant to Johnson, who represents Louisiana — a state with significant LNG export terminals. The decision was also a matter of national security, as it directly affected America’s allies and, by extension, the geopolitical landscape.
What transpired during a one-on-one exchange between Johnson and Biden left Johnson deeply concerned about the president’s cognitive awareness. As Johnson recounted, he asked Biden: “Can I ask you a question? I cannot answer this from my constituents in Louisiana. Sir, why did you pause LNG exports to Europe? Liquefied natural gas is in great demand by our allies. Why would you do that? Cause you understand we just talked about Ukraine, you understand you are fueling Vladimir Putin’s war machine, because they gotta get their gas from him.”
Biden’s response, according to Johnson, was not what he expected. The president appeared visibly stunned and denied having signed such an order, saying, “I didn’t do that.” Johnson, undeterred, pointed out that Biden had indeed signed the order just weeks earlier, referencing a specific executive order. Biden, however, continued to deny knowledge of the pause.
At this point, Johnson suggested that Biden ask his secretary to retrieve the executive order so that they could read it together. When Biden was reminded that he had signed an order, he clarified that it was meant only to call for a study on the effects of LNG exports, not an outright ban. However, Johnson maintained that the impact of the order was, in fact, a halt on the exports, one that was causing significant harm to both the economy and national security.
Johnson’s frustration grew as the conversation unfolded, and he became increasingly convinced that Biden had no awareness of the decision he had made. “Sir, you paused it, I know. I have the export terminals in my state. I talked to those people in my state, I’ve talked to those people this morning, this is doing massive damage to our economy, national security,” Johnson emphasized.
NEW: During a one-on-one meeting, Speaker Johnson asked President Biden why he paused LNG exports to Europe, says Biden was completely unaware he had done so.
The United States hasn't had a president for four years.
Johnson says Biden was completely unaware of an executive… pic.twitter.com/GgGm3QuYkM
— Collin Rugg (@CollinRugg) January 18, 2025
According to Johnson, it became clear that Biden was not being dishonest but rather genuinely unaware of the policy he had signed. “He genuinely did not know what he had signed,” Johnson later said. “And I walked out of that meeting with fear and loathing because I thought, ‘We are in serious trouble—who is running the country?'” The exchange left Johnson deeply unsettled, prompting him to wonder who, if not Biden, was truly in control of the country.
In his reflection, Johnson suggested that Biden’s lack of awareness might be a symptom of broader leadership challenges. He theorized that Biden may have made concessions to progressive Leftists, placing them in key positions of power, in exchange for them backing down in the Democratic primaries. This theory, while speculative, adds another layer to Johnson’s concerns about the leadership dynamics within the current administration.
This exchange, which had been previously reported by The Wall Street Journal through anonymous sources, is now recounted publicly by Johnson himself. The troubling nature of the anecdote raises significant questions about the state of leadership in the United States during Biden’s tenure. Many consider the United States lucky that nothing terrible happened while Joe Biden was in his lame duck months of his Presidency.
You can watch the whole interview between Bari Weiss of The Free Press and U.S. House Speaker Mike Johnson using the video player below.
The Conservative Column will update you on any reports about Joe Biden’s health now that he’s out of the White House.
