Former White House press secretary and Fox News contributor Ari Fleischer stated Friday that President Joe Biden’s “memory loss” led to his “biggest mistake,” calling out the withdrawal from Afghanistan.
Fleischer appeared on “Hannity” to discuss concerns over Biden’s mounting political issues as the 2024 presidential election approaches. The Fox News host asked Fleischer how he is analyzing the upcoming race, to which Fleischer stated the United States is in need of both a “strong” and “sharp” leader. (RELATED: Biden Admin Partially Backtracks On Buying American-Made Materials For Rural Internet Rollout)
Fleischer called out Biden’s withdrawal from Afghanistan in August 2021 which led to the death of 13 Americans from a terrorist attack. He slammed the president over his backtracking on being briefed about the withdrawal, noting why his memory led to the “deadly” incident.
“We don’t only need a strong leader, we need a sharp leader. And, Sean, the biggest mistake he made — you showed that painful series, it’s painful to watch it — but the biggest mistake Joe Biden’s memory made resulted in the death of Americans. And that’s when he said that nobody in the military told him that he had an option to leave a small force behind in Afghanistan, some 2,500 people. He said no one gave him that option, only to be contradicted later by the military, who General Milley, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, who said, ‘Indeed, the president was briefed on leaving 2,500 behind,'” Fleischer stated.
“He didn’t remember his policy briefings and then withdrew everybody from Afghanistan cause he thought he had no options. This is why it’s deadly. And the job of the presidency is the hardest job on the planet. Even for a young man, it grinds you down and wears you out. And [now] we have an old man doing a young man’s job. This is the problem with Joe Biden. The flubs, the forgetting of names — it’s bad, but it’s not of that great a consequence. It’s the memory loss. This is the problem when you have a president who can’t remember the briefings he’s given.”
In mid-August 2021, Biden repeatedly denied he had been briefed by military leaders who warned him against withdrawing from Afghanistan, forcing his administration to give conflicting messages over the issue. However, both Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin and the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. Mark Milley later testified they had been in favor of leaving the 2,500 troops in the country, directly conflicting with Biden’s claims.