Mayorkas Defends Biden’s Cognitive Ability: ‘I Prepare a Lot’ Before Meetings with Him

BASH: “I’m going to make a very hard turn right now to something a lot lighter than that, which is ‘Saturday Night Live.’ I’m not sure if you saw when you were coming in this morning that you and I both got the ‘SNL’ treatment last night. I will play a clip.”

[Clip starts]
ACTOR PLAYING MAYORKAS: “I was with Joe Biden for the past week, and, whew, he wiped me out.”
(Laughter)
ACTRESS PLAYING BASH: “OK, so you feel he’s up to the job?”
ACTOR PLAYING MAYORKAS: “Dana, I was just with him. And behind closed doors, he’s a dynamo. Joe went into beast mode. He said, ‘We’re going to tighten this border. Look how easy I can cross it.’ Then he parkoured up to the top of the border wall. He front-flipped into the Rio Grande and came back up with a fish in his mouth.”
[Clip ends]

BASH: “Does that happen every day?”
MAYORKAS: “We all need a little comic relief now and then. I thought George Clooney did a terrific job.”
BASH: “(Laughs) You know, obviously, this is art, but they do this because they try to make a point that there is a discussion in the zeitgeist. There is a reason that they did a whole thing about Joe Biden’s age. Do you want to have a real statement about it, about what you witness?”
MAYORKAS: “They should spend a bit of time with Joe Biden, like I have done. Let me share something with you. I prepare a lot for meetings with him and engagements with him because he’s remarkably detail-oriented, probing and operationally focused.”
BASH: “Okay. But no fishing in the Rio Grande?”
MAYORKAS: “Not for me.”
BASH: “(Laughs) Okay. Thank you so much, Mr. Secretary. I appreciate it.”
MAYORKAS: “Thank you, Dana.”