Donald Trump has baselessly claimed that Joe Biden will use medical supplements to prepare for the first presidential debate this coming Thursday.
At his last scheduled rally before the debate, Trump suggested that Biden is going to appear “jacked up” after getting “a shot in the a**.”
“So tonight we’ll refer to him as Sleepy Joe because right now, as you know, it’s been reported that right now, Crooked Joe has gone to a log cabin to study. Prepare? No. He’s sleeping now because they want to get him good and strong. So a little before debate time, he gets a shot in the a**,” Trump told the crowd on Saturday in Philadelphia.
For months, Trump has lampooned Biden as a cognitively impaired “brain-dead zombie” who can’t finish a sentence or find his way off stage.
However, the former president changed his tune just days before the debate, suggesting that Biden might prove a formidable opponent.
“They want to strengthen him up so he comes out -- he’ll come out. Okay. I say he’ll come out all jacked up, right? All jacked up,” Trump told the crowd. “I’m sure he’ll be prepared.”
Trump then paused before asking: “Whatever happened to all that cocaine that was missing a month ago from the White House?”
He appeared to be referencing an incident in which a small bag of cocaine was found in the guest lobby of the West Wing last year. The Secret Service closed its investigation into the incident last July after security cameras provided no leads and no fingerprints were found.
The former president will take part in the first 2024 debate with President Biden on June 27, which will be aired on CNN. A second faceoff is set for September 10, hosted by ABC.
Trump had refused to take part in any of the GOP primary debates, writing on Truth Social: “The public knows who I am & what a successful Presidency I had. I will therefore not be doing the debates.”
But since becoming the presumptive Republican presidential nominee, Trump has said that he would be willing to challenge Biden “anytime, anywhere, any place.”
However, that hasn’t stopped Trump airing his grievances about Thursday’s debate, accusing CNN of taking “so much fun out of it.”
The candidates will debate at a CNN studio in Atlanta with no audience, and there will be no opening statements. Each candidate’s microphone will be muted, except when it’s his turn to speak. No props or pre-written notes will be allowed on stage. The candidates will be given only a pen, a pad of paper and a bottle of water. Both camps have agreed to the rules.
Trump also criticized CNN anchors, Jake Tapper and Dana Bash, who are hosting the debate.
“Number one, it was CNN fake news, right? Who hates Trump. Then it was Fake Tapper who really hates Trump. And Dana Bash. It’s Dan-ah, not Dane-ah, right, you know that? Right? It’s Dan-ah, isn’t it? It’s either. Choose it,” he told the crowd in Philadelphia this weekend.
“Then think of this. There’s no audience. It’s like death. There’s two of us and two of them. It’s like death. This could be the most boring or it could be quite exciting. Who knows? You know, I already caught them,” he added.
