Democrats Rally Around Embattled Biden

After a special counsel report that questioned President Joe Biden's cognition, Democrats are rallying around him as polls show that voters are concerned about his age.

During a surprise news conference Thursday, Biden fired back against special counsel Robert Hur's report that said Biden mishandled classified files and struggled to recall key events in his own life. During that news conference, Biden mixed up the names of the leaders of Egypt and Mexico.

Biden, 81, is the oldest sitting U.S. president. If reelected in November, he would be 86 at the end of his second term.

Vice President Kamala Harris called the special counsel report "gratuitous, inappropriate and inaccurate," and said she is ready to serve as president amid concerns over Biden's age and mental acuity, the Wall Street Journal reported.

Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) told reporters Tuesday that Biden's mental acuity is "great."

"I talk to President Biden regularly. Usually several times in a week. His mental acuity is great, it's fine, it's as good as it's been over the years," Schumer said, The Hill reported. "He's fine. All this right-wing propaganda that his mental acuity has declined is wrong."

An ABC News/Ipsos poll published Sunday found that 59% of Americans say Biden and former President Donald Trump are too old to serve another term as president. That followed an NBC News poll published last week that found that three-quarters of voters and half of Democrat voters say they have concerns about Biden's mental and physical health.

Schumer dismissed the polls, saying Biden is in a strong position to win a second term, The Hill reported.

"He's going to win the election because he has a great record, because more and more Americans are seeing that record, because the economy is improving, and because a large number of Americans including Republicans fear a Donald Trump presidency," Schumer said.

Former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi also defended Biden's mental acuity, calling him "very sharp," The Hill reported.

"I've worked with the president for a long time, especially closely as Speaker when he was president, and now since then, and he knows … I mean, he's always on the ball," she said on CNN. "He knows these issues, he knows the legislation, he helped write some of it, he campaigned on it.

"I think that people do make mistakes. I think his age is one thing, that's an objective fact. His … make a mistake from time to time … we all do that," said Pelosi, 83.

Pelosi also noted that former President Donald Trump would make the "same mistake[s] seven times" about "one thing or another."

"It wasn't a slip of the tongue, it was a complete…going down a path of something that wasn't even true, intentionally or otherwise," Pelosi said, referring to Trump.