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By Beth Stibal |

“Are You a Junkie?,” Biden Asks Reporter Questioning His Cognitive Abilities

Former Vice President and Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden snapped at a reporter on Wednesday, when an interviewer asked whether he had taken a cognitive test.

The response? Biden became defensive, asking the interviewer, CBS correspondent Errol Barnett, if he was a junkie and had been tested for cocaine use.

“No, I haven’t taken a test. Why the hell would I take a test?” Biden asked. “Come on, man. That’s like saying to you, before you got on this program, if you had to take a test where you’re taking cocaine or not. What do you think, huh? Are you a junkie?”

The 77-year-old’s response contradicted remarks he made last June at a press conference, when he said he was “constantly tested” for mental decline, in response to a reporter’s question.

During that encounter, he said, “All you gotta do is watch me and I can hardly wait to compare my cognitive capability to the cognitive capability of the man I’m running against,” after calling the reporter a “lying dog face.”

Barnett continued by asking what Biden thinks of President Trump, who is 74, making his opponent’s mental state an issue for voters.

Biden replied, “Look, man, I know you’re trying to goad me, but I’m looking forward to having an opportunity to sit with the president or stand with the president in the debates. There’s going to be plenty of time.”

He continued, “I am very willing to let the American public judge my personal and mental fil– my physical as well as my mental fil– my fitness and to make a judgment about who I am.”

Meanwhile, President Trump has also has gone to great lengths to prove that he is up to continuing in the job. He has repeatedly described a test that doctors reportedly gave him, while calling on his opponent to take the same exam.