The White House says President Joe Biden continues to have confidence in Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.) days after the publication of a news report calling into question whether the senator is still mentally fit to serve.
The report by the San Francisco Chronicle anonymously cites four U.S. senators, including three Democrats, as well as three former Feinstein staffers and a California Democratic House representative, who all raise concerns about Feinstein’s apparent mental decline and question whether the senator should retire before the end of her term in 2024.
When asked Monday whether Biden continues to have confidence in Feinstein, White House press secretary Jen Psaki responded “yes.”
“She’s a longtime friend, a proud public servant, and someone he has long enjoyed serving with and working with,” Psaki said.
When asked whether Biden, 79, reached out to Feinstein, 88, after the report was published, Psaki said she did not “have any updates on the president’s conversations.”
Feinstein has held her Senate seat since 1992. She also served as mayor of San Francisco from 1978 to 1988. Feinstein sits on the Senate Judiciary Committee and was among senators questioning Supreme Court Justice Kentanji Brown Jackson during confirmation hearings just weeks ago.
The Chronicle article, published Apr. 14, quotes multiple sources who say Feinstein has recently begun displaying periodic symptoms of short-term memory loss. It says at least one lawmaker “began raising concerns with colleagues to see if some kind of intervention to persuade Feinstein to retire was possible.” Another is quoted as saying Feinstein’s difficulty keeping up with conversations and discussions is “bad, and it’s getting worse.”
Two senators who spoke to the Chronicle told the outlet that Feinstein does not always fully recognize them and may not be able to recall their name or home state.
Other colleagues, however, have voiced support for Feinstein. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, 82, told the Chronicle in a statement that she had not noticed a decline in Feinstein’s memory.
“Senator Feinstein is a workhorse for the people of California and a respected leader among her colleagues in the Senate,” Pelosi said. “She is constantly traveling between California and the Capitol, working relentlessly to ensure Californians’ needs are met and voices are heard.”
Feinstein offered her own response to the article in a statement obtained by The Hill on Apr. 15, saying that the “real question is whether I’m still an effective representative for 40 million Californians, and the record shows that I am.”
“I remain committed to do what I said I would when I was reelected in 2018: fight for Californians, especially on the economy and the key issues for California of water and fire. While I have focused for much of the past year on my husband’s health and ultimate passing, I have remained committed to achieving results and I’d put my record up against anyone’s,” Feinstein added.
Feinstein’s husband, Richard Blum, died earlier this year of cancer sometime after the interviews for the Chronicle article were conducted, according to the California news outlet.
