The assessment that voters make about Joe Biden's age and mental health are two of the keys that will decide who will be the next occupant of the White House. With his frequent lapses and stumbles, the president has made doubts about his ability to lead the world's leading power a matter of state, sowing doubts among Democrats and offering Republicans weapons with which to assault the Presidency . The Wall Street Journal has added more fuel to the fire by publishing an article in which it states that several people who have had meetings with Biden claim that he sometimes indicates that he is not feeling well .

McCarthy: Biden 'not the same person'

The journalists Annie Linskey and Siobhan Hughes They spoke with 45 people who have participated in meetings or have interviewed with Biden, and, compared to the official version of the White House - which ensures that the president keeps his intellectual acuity and is a vigorous leader- found signs that could be attributed to cognitive decline or senility.

For example, five people with knowledge of what happened but who asked to remain anonymous told both reporters what happened during the Biden meeting with congressional leaders regarding the approval of funds for Ukraine: "Sometimes He spoke so quietly that some participants had trouble hearing him.. He would read from his notes to make obvious points, pause for long periods, and sometimes close his eyes for so long that some in the room wondered if he had zoned out ."

The former speaker, Kevin McCarthy, who treated him as Obama's vice president and negotiated with him again as president, was blunt about this: "I used to meet with him when he was vice president. I was going to his house. It's not the same person ."

The White House points out that these are "partisan attacks"

From the White House, however, they insist that it is all about partisan attacks with a clear political interest behind them. In the words of spokesman Andrew Bates :

However, this confidence does not carry over to the president's meetings with the media . Biden is the leader of the Executive who has given the fewest interviews and press conferences at this point in his mandate. A statement that clearly contrasts with the alleged confidence in the president's cognitive abilities.