Biden ‘Sorry to Hear’ of Mitch McConnell’s Looming Leadership Exit

President Joe Biden said on Wednesday he was saddened to learn that Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) is stepping down from leadership in November, which will be followed by his retirement in January.

“I trusted him, we had a great relationship, we fought like hell. But he never, never, never misrepresented anything. I’m sorry to hear he’s stepping down,” Biden told reporters, according to a video posted to X and transcribed by the Recount. The pair served in the Senate for decades together before Biden became vice president in 2008:

President Biden says he’s “sorry to hear” Mitch McConnell is stepping down from Senate leadership:

“I trusted him, we had a great relationship, we fought like hell. But he never, never, never misrepresented anything. I’m sorry to hear he’s stepping down.” pic.twitter.com/U4a1RaQ94v

— The Recount (@therecount) February 28, 2024

McConnell, 82, delivered remarks on the Senate floor Thursday, revealing he would also be retiring from his seat at the end of the 118th Congress, saying that “Father Time remains undefeated” and “its time for the next generation of leaders,” as Breitbart News noted.

“As Ecclesiastes tells us, to everything there is a season and a time to every purpose under heaven,” he said. “One of life’s most underappreciated talents is to know when it’s time to move on to life’s next chapter. So I stand before you today, Mr. President and my colleagues, to say this will be my last term as Republican leader.

McConnell’s announcement follows multiple episodes in the last year in which he froze for an extended period of time while speaking with reporters.

RELATED: Mitch McConnell Freezes Mid-Speech, Led Away from Podium

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Meanwhile, pressure mounts on his fellow octogenarian, Biden, regarding age, particularly following special counsel Robert Hur’s damning report of the Biden classified documents investigation in early February. In the report, Hur described the president’s memory as “significantly limited.”

RELATED: Biden Snaps at Reporter After Being Pressed About Concerns with His Age, Memory

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Moreover, public polling shows voters are worried about Biden’s age and mental acuity. In a Harvard-Harris poll conducted from February 21-22, 59 percent of registered voters said they “have doubts about his fitness for office.” Similarly, 67 percent of all respondents said he is “showing he is too old” for the presidency. The poll surveyed 2,022 registered voters nationally, and a margin of error was not specified.

An NBC News poll released ahead of Hur’s report found that 89 percent of voters, to varying degrees, have concerns that he lacks “the necessary mental and physical health to be president for a second term.”

That poll sampled 1,000 registered voters from January 26-30, and the margin of error is ± 3.1 percentage points.

McConnell and Biden are both subjects of author Peter Schweizer’s new bestselling book published by Harper Collins, Blood Money: Why the Powerful Turn a Blind Eye While China Kills Americans. Breitbart News published an article Thursday, “‘Blood Money’: Why Mitch McConnell Won’t Talk About China’s Drug War Against America,” as outlined in Schweizer’s book, which sits at number one on the Amazon bestseller list.

Schweizer, a Breitbart News senior contributor and the president of the Government Accountability Institute (GAI), is the bestselling author of Profiles in Corruption, Clinton Cash, Secret Empires, and Red-Handed. Throughout his career, he has exposed corruption at the highest echelons of society.