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Reporter Female [00:00:00] We're joined now by a panel of medical experts. Sherri Snelling is a Gerontologist. Doctor Matt Chalmers is a certified clinical chiropractic neurologist. So welcome to you both. And thanks so much for coming on. Sherri, let me start with you. Based on your background revolves around working with people who are aging. When you saw just that clip there. Is this a sign of old age or is there something more to it?

Sherri Snelling [00:00:24] Well, I think it's important for us to remember that everybody ages at a different pace. Now, normally we see some cognitive decline, after the age of 75 or 80. But it doesn't mean that everybody who is that age is going to perform, at a slower pace. So we have to keep that in mind. One of the things that does concern me is there are certain red flags that we look for. I do a lot of work in the dementia and Alzheimer's community, and we do know from the statistics that 1 in 6 people over 80 will develop dementia and 1 in 3 over 85 will develop dementia. So we want to look at more than just memory. But I'd love to decouple the age from the cognitive performance. Because when you think about somebody like Senator John Fetterman, who's in his 50s, there's also some questions about cognitive acuity there. And so I don't think that age is the, the one thing that we should look at. It's just one of the factors.

Reporter Male [00:01:19] Yeah. No. Excellent point. It's something we've been pointing out here, on this one, this broadcast here, especially for the past three years. You know, seeing the president having to take a different staircase from Air Force One due to falling up the stairs several different times. That's a major change of pace. Being told in advance of where to go. The Easter Bunny, helping him out, showing him where to go, his wife helping him out again. This stumble here on the stage, you've seen him shuffling around and falling off a bicycle. I mean, it's it's really has become common. But again, you can decouple that from age. Which again, pointing to the the mental acuity of the president, even what he says in speeches, you can't understand. I want to go to Doctor Chalmers. You're a neurologist. What do you make of these behaviors being displayed by the president? Could they possibly point to a larger neurological issue? Obviously, you're not diagnosing him here, but when you're watching someone in general, specifically the most powerful man here in this country, what do you see?

Dr. Matt Chalmers [00:02:23] The biggest thing is you just look at this gate or the way he moves. He doesn't swing his arms. He shuffles his feet. He stops mid mid-stride and then it'll start again. That's a very common thing we see with both dementia and early entrance into Alzheimer's. Recalling facts that that like having ten years ago, and then the big thing is, is that you can say he has a bad memory, but forgetting your son's death isn't a bad memory thing. It's a mental thing. So it's very obvious that we're in mental decline. We just don't know how bad.

Reporter Female [00:02:55] We now serving as president of the United States is one of the most challenging jobs on this planet. Do you look at other previous presidents who've served the way they just physically appear? You can see it ages them in that four year time span. So, Sherri, when you're watching this, what appears to be decline in real time, do you see this accelerating throughout the remainder of his term, potentially into a second term, depending on what happens in November?

Sherri Snelling [00:03:21] Well, again, you know, we can't make a diagnosis over television, but just taking a look again, the gate is a great example that the doctor just noted. And, you know, we're looking at other things that we we pick up from newsreels. One of the things that concerns me is pull back from a lot of the social engagements or public engagements, the ability when he didn't do the Super Bowl interview, for me, that was kind of a big one, because it was probably going to be a little bit of a softball interview, at least one that he could control the narrative and he would be speaking to millions. And yet he declined to do that. And we see that again a lot in the dementia community, where there is this pull back on social interactions because of the fear of saying the wrong thing. Now, in terms of decline, everybody who is older, you know, has cognitive decline again at a different pace. Even if you are diagnosed with mild cognitive impairment or dementia, Alzheimer's, you're going to have a very personalized pace in terms of that decline. But over the last two years of watching the president from newsreels, we certainly do see that decline happening.

Reporter Male [00:04:25] I want to go back to the special counsel's report, and that was what Doctor Chalmers was referring to. Special Counsel Robert Herr did an interview with the president hours long, part of his report on Biden's handling of classified material. And that report highlighted how he struggled to remember things throughout the interview. So that's why this was brought to light. It's been watched widely by the American public and voters for years. But seeing this here, documented by the special counsel really got people talking because it was seen by the special counsel during an interview. A quote report reads this quote, he did not remember when he was vice president for getting on the first day of the interview when his term ended. If it was 2013, when did I stop being vice president and forgetting the second day of the interview when his term began, quote, in 2009, am I still vice president? And he did not even remember this. Within several years, when his son Beau died and his memory appeared hazy when describing the Afghanistan debate that was once so important to him. So again, Doctor Chalmers, knowing this here, the special counsel is getting a lot of flak for putting this in his report. What he's noticed as an attorney, in this deposition, one at again assessing should he put him in front of a jury. And that was one of the reasons why he did not the special counsel choose to put him in front of a jury? He's assessing his he's assessing again the president here. Is he fair to put that in his report? Did did you find did you find any issue with that?

Dr. Matt Chalmers [00:06:09] I didn't find any issue with it at all. In fact, it was important that you put it in there because it shows us the level of decline that you have. Again, he's the most powerful man in the world, and he has the power to literally destroy the planet. I don't think that we should be putting that in the hands of somebody who doesn't remember when his son died. Think for yourself if you have children. Could you forget the moment your kids were born? If you can't, that's kind of what we're looking at.

Reporter Male [00:06:33] All right. That is Sherri Snelling, doctor Matt Chalmers, thank you both for weighing in on that. And again, just getting your expertise on that now that this is all coming to light here. Thank you. Great conversation.

Reporter Female [00:06:43] Thank you.