Tag: News

• President Zelenskyy has been in the middle of several awkward moments in US history.
• Biden on Thursday mistakenly called Zelenskyy "President Putin."
• In 2019, he was put in a tough spot when Trump told him to "get together" with Putin to solve their problems.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has, through no fault of his own, found himself in some of the most acutely awkward moments in modern US history.

On Thursday during a NATO summit in Washington DC, he stood onstage as President Joe Biden made an embarrassing gaffe — calling him "President Putin."

"And now I want to hand it over to the President of Ukraine, who has as much courage as he has determination," he said, introducing Zelenskyy. "Ladies and gentlemen, President Putin."

As the summit audience launched into awkward applause, Zelenskyy looked conflicted as he stood rooted on his spot instead of moving to the podium.

Biden backtracked quickly, correcting himself by saying: "President Putin? He's going to beat President Putin. President Zelenskyy."

He added: "I'm so focused on beating Putin, we gotta worry about it."

Zelenskyy quipped: "I'm better," as he shook Biden's hand and walked to the podium.

Biden responded: "You're a hell of a lot better."

The Ukrainian president has endured other embarrassing exchanges with US politicians.

While speaking with former President Donald Trump at the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly in 2019, he maintained a cold silence when Trump leaned towards him and loudly said: "I really hope that you and President Putin get together and can solve your problem.

Trump added: "That would be a tremendous achievement, and I know you're trying to do that."

Ukraine is at the center of one of the most complex geopolitical conflicts unfolding now

Much like how he has been caught in awkward moments, Zelenskyy has, at numerous occasions, been at the heart of major political tensions in the US.

The president and his country were majorly embroiled in Trump's first impeachment. In 2019, Trump was impeached on accusations that he solicited the interference of the Ukrainian government in the 2020 election.

The articles of impeachment also accused him of withholding vital military aid and a White House meeting that Zelensky desperately wanted.

Trump was later acquitted of the charges.

At present, Zelenskyy finds himself at the center of one of the biggest geopolitical conflicts of the modern day as the Russia-Ukraine war stretches into its third year.

The US has stood with Ukraine since the start of Russia's invasion in February 2022 and has committed to sending more than $52 billion worth of aid.

And Biden said in June that the US will back Ukraine for a decade.

Representatives for Zelenskyy didn't immediately respond to requests for comment sent outside regular business hours.

• Elon Musk couldn't hide his amusement at President Joe Biden's latest gaffe. 
• Biden accidentally referred his Vice President Kamala Harris as "Vice President Trump."
• "This is real!!??" Musk said in an X post on Thursday.  

President Joe Biden's press conference on Thursday was hotly watched by the nation, including one Elon Musk.

The billionaire, who has frequently derided the president and his administration, couldn't stop himself from poking fun at Biden's gaffes on his social media platform, X.

"This is real!!??" Musk said in response to a clip where Biden had accidentally referred to Vice President Kamala Harris as "Vice President Trump."

During the press conference, Biden was asked if he had any concerns about Harris' ability to beat Trump if she took over from him when he misspoke.

"I wouldn't have picked Vice President Trump to be vice president, if she's not qualified to be president," Biden said on Thursday.

Musk also poked fun at the muted facial expressions Biden's Cabinet members had when he made the mistake.

"Reality is beyond parody!" he wrote a few minutes later.

"The most entertaining outcome is the most likely," Musk said in another post referencing the incident.

The mixed reaction to Thursday's press conference would probably be a downer for Biden, whose team saw it as an opportunity for him to quell the growing doubts surrounding his mental acuity.

During a press briefing on Monday, White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre and National Security Council spokesperson John Kirby repeatedly referred to the event as Biden's "big boy press conference," a term coined by Bloomberg reporter Justin Sink.

Musk's amusement shouldn't come as a surprise to many. The mercurial businessman has been an outspoken critic of Biden ever since Tesla was excluded from the president's electric-vehicle summit in 2021.

Musk, who said he voted for Biden in 2020, has slammed Biden for his approach toward the Southern border crisis and accused the Democratic Party of being "controlled by the unions."

That said, Musk has stopped short of endorsing Biden's rival, former President Donald Trump.

"I think I would not vote for Biden. I'm not saying I'd vote for Trump," Musk told moderator Andrew Ross Sorkin at The New York Times Dealbook Summit in November.

It's worth noting that Musk has used X to platform several GOP figures. In May 2023, he helped launch Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis' failed presidential bid via an X stream riddled with technical difficulties.

And while Musk has stopped short of endorsing Trump, he's admitted to meeting privately with the GOP candidate.

"I was at a breakfast at a friend's place, and Donald Trump came by, that's it," Musk told former CNN host Don Lemon in an interview that aired on March 18. "I'm not paying his legal bills in any way, shape or form. And he did not ask me for money."

During a June 13 Tesla shareholder meeting, Musk revealed that Trump does "call me out of the blue for no reason."

"I don't know why, but he does," Musk said.

Representatives for Musk and Biden did not immediately respond to requests for comment from BI sent outside regular business hours.

• Top bodybuilding coach Cliff Wilson uses supplements to build muscle and stay in shape. 
• But he avoid high-caffeine and "detox" supplements.
• The human body "detoxes" itself, while high-caffeine supplements can lead to overtraining and injury. 

Cliff Wilson knows how to get people in shape.

As a top bodybuilding coach, he advises clients on what to do and what to avoid when preparing to compete, while also keeping their health in mind.

Wilson practices what he preaches. That involves determining which of the supplements that make up the billion dollar industry are worth taking.

While supplements can complement a balanced diet, there are two types Wilson said he would never take: very high caffeine pre-workout, and anything that claims to "detox the body."

He told Business Insider why.

Supplements won't 'detox' your body

Wilson said he avoids any sort of "detox" supplement.

"Generally, your body does a really good job of detoxing itself, assuming you are giving it the proper nutrients," he said. "Most detox supplements are laxatives in disguise."

The idea of detoxing your body with supplements or drinks is a myth as our kidneys, liver, and gastrointestinal tract remove toxins from the body naturally.

"Our body is able to cleanse or detox itself by using normal bodily functions," registered dietitian Rachael Harley previously told BI. "When we breathe, when we go to the bathroom, when our liver is functioning — the body does all the cleansing and detoxifying itself."

Registered dietitian Abbey Sharp agreed with Wilson, previously telling BI that most detox supplements are "just laxatives or diuretics, which sure help to support our body's natural detox mechanisms (pooping and peeing), but there are way more pleasant and nutritious ways to do this — just drink water and eat fiber!"

High-caffeine supplements can lead to overtraining

Wilson said he'd never take super-high-caffeine pre-workout supplements, as they can lead us to unwittingly overtrain, which can put strain on the body and increase the risk of injury.

"Often people wake up and feel terrible because they're running themselves into the ground, but then they take a high-dose pre-workout with tons of stimulants and suddenly feel great so they go and train really hard," he said. "It interrupts your body's natural signals."

Wilson still consumes some caffeine before a workout as it's been shown to increase performance, but he ensures he listens to his body and only takes one with a "reasonable dose."

For him, that's 200 to 300 milligrams rather than 400 milligrams upwards. The FDA says 400 milligrams of caffeine a day is a healthy amount, but personal tolerances vary a lot.

Personal trainer Luke Worthington previously told BI that he agrees with Wilson and, instead of dosing up on pre-workout, takes things easier when he's lacking energy.

• An Iranian Navy frigate sank two days after capsizing in port.
• The latest incident suggests a lack of training and a design flaw with the Iran-built ship.
• Iran's Navy is losing clout and budget to the powerful Revolutionary Guard's fleet.

In another embarrassing incident for Iran's Navy, the frigate Sahand capsized on Sunday before completely sinking on Tuesday in the shallow waters of the port of Bandar Abbas in southern Iran. It was the third navy ship Iran has lost in an accident since 2018.

According to state-controlled Iranian media, the Sahand initially "lost its balance due to water leakage into the tanks" on Sunday and rolled onto its side, with only part of the hull and sonar dome appearing above water, resulting in at least one fatality and an undisclosed number of injured, but "quickly returned to a balanced state." On Tuesday, however, local media reported the vessel had completely sunk, claiming a rope that was holding it broke.

The string of accidents suggests a lack of baseline training and supervision at a time its conventional navy is losing traction to its paramilitary competitor, with one expert cautioning that sabotage should not be ruled out. It also may be the Iranian-made frigate has a design flaw that makes it too tippy.

Bryan Clark, a senior fellow at the Hudson Institute and expert on naval operations, believes the incident was "largely the result of poor maintenance and inadequate training."

"The updated design probably didn't help because it raised the center of gravity, which will reduce its stability," Clark told Business Insider.

Iran launched the 315-feet-long, 1,300-ton vessel, named after another Iranian warship sunk by US forces during a 1988 naval clash, in late 2018. At the time, Iranian media boasted it could travel for approximately five months without refueling. It also had a helicopter pad, sophisticated radar, surface-to-surface and surface-to-air missiles.

Steven Horrell, a former naval intelligence officer and senior fellow with the Transatlantic Defense and Security Program at the Center for European Policy Analysis, suspects "maintenance and training played a part" in the accident.

"If the cause was a rapid influx of water into the ballast tanks or other compartments, that says that some material condition was lax, whether the setting of valves within the transfer systems or what hatches and doors and scuttles are supposed to be secured or open," Horrell told BI. An intake of water is usually supervised because too much water piped into one ballast tank or one side of the ship can cause the hull to heel or even topple.

"And then it looks like whatever crew was aboard during that pier-side maintenance was not postured to respond."

While the Sahand's hull is "certainly salvageable," the CEPA fellow anticipates "a long process" for returning it to service.

"Electronics and seawater don't mix, and for that matter mechanical parts — the whole engineering plant and propulsion train — are subject to water damage and corrosion," Horrell said. "They will be replacing systems from stem to stern."

Iran's Navy lost two other warships to accidents in recent years.

In June 2021, it lost the 680-feet-long Kharg support ship, the Iranian Navy's largest by tonnage, in a fire, injuring 33. In January 2018, the 315-feet-long Damavand frigate, described as the navy's "most important warship on the Caspian Sea," sank after it hit the breakwater at Bandar-e Anzali port during high seas, killing two crew.

The Kharg incident is distinct since a fire destroyed that ship, and also because the vessel had been built by the United Kingdom.

Clark noted the Damavand, a ship in the same indigenous class as the Sahand, "ran aground and could have capsized because of instability created by the updated design."

"This calls into question the design itself, although proper training and maintenance would likely be able to mitigate the design shortfalls," Clark said. "At the very least, I cannot imagine any other countries being interested in Moudge-class frigates."

Horrell also noted that this class of frigates is based on the older Alvand-class frigates built by the UK for pre-revolutionary Iran in the late 1960s and early 1970s.

"They are indigenously designed, but based off the import Alvand-class," Horrell said. "If you put more superstructure on a similar hull, you might be creating center of gravity problems, which would contribute to the rapid rollover Sahand experienced."

In other words, more high weight on a ship increases the risk that if the ship heels it can act as a lever that rolls the ship over, a catastrophe that renders the ship useless and endangers its crew.

Horrell also stressed that the three incidents were all different.

"A fire like on Kharg is a critical concern for every Navy; Damavand ran aground in reportedly terrible weather conditions in the Caspian Sea," Horrell said. "But one probable common thread is damage control. Every sailor on board should have some basic damage control training or firefighting training; these are all-hands operations."

Consequently, he believes "better damage control" and "training, professionalism, personnel" may have saved some of these ships and prevented injuries and loss of life. Furthermore, it could also "be a small reflection of government prioritization" of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps Navy over Iran's Navy.

"Budgets are not just ships and shipbuilding," Horrell said. "Budgets are training, maintenance, and personnel."

Iran has two navies: its Navy, known as the Islamic Republic of Iran Navy, and the naval arm of the powerful Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps paramilitary organization. For decades, the IRGC Navy patrolled the Persian Gulf north of the Strait of Hormuz using speedboats and fast patrol crafts, while the IRIN, with its larger warships, generally deployed in the seas beyond the Gulf. But in recent years, the IRGCN has built larger craft, including oceangoing vessels.

"If you look at the numerous incidents of unsafe and unprofessional interactions with the US Navy or other navies, those are the IRGCN," Horrell said.

Since the 1979 revolution, the ruling authorities in Iran favored the IRGC over the regular military.

"The IRGCN is certainly favored in the Iranian government, partly because it is seen as more loyal to the Supreme Leader and partly because it operates businesses that provide cash to government officials," Hudson's Clark said.

"The design flaws that seem to be a contributor to the problems experienced by these ships are not directly attributable to the government's budget priorities," Clark added. "But the lack of training and maintenance that directly led to these accidents can probably be traced to the IRIN having lower precedence in budget competitions to the IRGCN."

Farzin Nadimi, a defense and security analyst and senior fellow of the Washington Institute for Near East Policy, noted that "on the surface," the regime tries to portray the IRGCN and IRIN as cooperating, while the reality is much more sinister.

"In effect, the IRGC is eating into the IRIN's turf and budget with all these new 'oceangoing' vessels they are commissioning, while they were supposed to limit their area of responsibility to the littorals," Nadimi told BI.

"Therefore, sabotage by the IRGC in order to undermine and weaken the IRIN in at least some of those cases should not be ruled out," Nadimi said.

More generally, he noted the accidents "show a major flaw" in the IRIN command and "possible flaws in indigenous warship designs and production methods."

"They are losing warships at such a pace in peacetime," Nadimi said. "Who knows how quickly they will lose ships in wartime!"

• It sure looks like Donald Trump's campaign team doesn't want Joe Biden to drop out of the race.
• "I think he's doing okay enough to stay," Donald Trump Jr. said of Biden's latest press conference.
• Trump's people believe that they'll win by a landslide if Biden stays on, per The New York Times.

President Joe Biden is still under pressure to drop out of the race after his uneven performance at Thursday's press conference. But he's getting some support — and it's coming from Trumpworld.

Former President Donald Trump is slated to face off against Biden this November, and it looks like his family and campaign team are rooting for Biden to remain his opponent.

"I think he's doing OK enough to stay. The press, I think their mission was to try to get him out with this, but I don't think they are going to," Donald Trump Jr. said in a livestream on Thursday.

Trump's eldest son weighed in on Biden's candidacy in the latest episode of his podcast, "Triggered with Don Jr." Notably, Trump Jr. sprinkled in some praise for Biden while volleying insults at him.

"I don't think anyone wants to call this guy at an emergency at 3 o'clock in the morning but you know, he did an hour. It's almost an hour," Trump Jr. said midway through Biden's press conference.

"I think he did better than I actually thought he was going to do. I don't think it was a great job by any means, but I think it's a big one," he said near the end of the podcast.

The Trump camp is itching for a 2020 rematch

The New York Times' Jonathan Swan reported on Thursday that people close to Trump are rejoicing that Biden performed decently at the press conference.

Swan wrote that Trump's people believe it'll now be harder for the Democratic Party to boot Biden off the ticket — and they're holding on to hope that Trump can secure a landslide victory if Biden stays his opponent.

Also on Thursday, Politico spoke to a Trump advisor who was granted anonymity to discuss the campaign.

"Democrats' worst nightmare is unfolding," the advisor told the outlet. "He gave us enough new material and may stave off his insurrection."

The Trump campaign had already expressed its preference for Biden as a candidate even before Biden's disastrous debate on June 27.

Trump's campaign advisor Susie Wiles also called Biden a "gift" in an interview with The Atlantic's Tim Alberta in mid-June, which was published Wednesday.

When approached for comment, a spokesperson for Trump pointed to a clip of Trump speaking at a campaign event in Florida on Tuesday.

"Despite all the Democrat panic this week, the truth is, it doesn't matter who they nominate because we are going to beat anyone of them in a thundering landslide," Trump said.

Biden has repeatedly insisted that he'll not step away from his 2024 bid, but his party might not share that same zeal.

At least 16 House Democrats and one Democratic senator have called on Biden to quit following his poor debate performance.

Others, like former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, haven't explicitly called for Biden's removal but held back from endorsing him as the party's candidate.

"It's up to the president to decide if he is going to run. We're all encouraging him to make that decision. Because time is running short," Pelosi said during an interview with MSNBC's "Morning Joe" on Wednesday.

Representatives for Biden didn't immediately respond to a request for comment from BI sent outside regular business hours.

• Older generations are set to pass on trillions of dollars. Much of that money will go to spouses.
• A new UBS report said spouses, largely women, could inherit $9 trillion.
• Some of this money could go toward women's causes. But not all women can inherit from their husbands.

There's a huge wave of money and other assets set to change hands — and a good chunk of it will go to spouses, especially women.

Dubbed the "Great Horizontal Wealth Transfer" by UBS in the bank's 2024 Global Wealth Report released this week, the term describes asset transfers within the same generation.

Out of the $83 trillion to be inherited in the next 25 years, UBS estimated $9 trillion will go to women of the same generation.

"We'll see spouses inheriting wealth, rather than it going straight down to [their] children," said Paul Donovan, chief economist of UBS Global Wealth Management, at a media event on Wednesday.

That kind of transfer could have substantial implications for the next generation. For starters, a notable portion of the Great Wealth Transfer to later generations could be delayed by four years, the amount of time that UBS anticipates women will outlive their male spouses. The people passing down wealth are, on average, 84 years old, UBS said.

When women inherit assets, even from their spouses, they may also manage it differently, Donovan said.

A March Bank of America report analyzing the differences in financial habits between genders found that women tended to make less risky investment decisions. The bank attributed this difference to women having lower retirement income from the gender wage gap and higher costs for working women, like childcare.

BofA also highlighted that women's risk appetite often varies with wealth and age. Younger women with significant household wealth, for example, are more financially confident than older wealthy women.

Philanthropic causes stand to benefit from this feminization of wealth, as women are more likely to donate a portion of their wealth to charity and sustainable investing than men. Nearly 90% of wealthy women made charitable donations in 2022, and they're much more likely than men to donate to women-focused causes according to BofA.

Globally, the Americas still hold the largest percentage of the world's transferable wealth — over 50%, per UBS's tally.

While women in the US stand to gain significantly from the next round of vertical and horizontal transfers, the same cannot be said internationally. Per BofA, more than 40 countries still restrict transferring wealth equally between genders.

• Jon Stewart is upset that the Democratic Party failed to prepare for threats like Biden appearing weak.
• "I don't know if it was complacency, or deceit, or whatever it is," Stewart said.
• He worried that Biden's perceived ill health would lead to fascism rising in the US if Trump wins.

Comedian Jon Stewart accused the Democratic Party of putting its voters between a "rock and a hard place" by failing to prepare them for any doubts about President Joe Biden's health before the 2024 election.

And he's upset, he indicated in a Thursday episode of his podcast.

"What do I do with my anger at a Democratic Party that honestly has put us in this rock and a hard place position?" he said. "That wasn't honest over this past year about what was happening internally in the White House, was not in any way preparing the public for Kamala Harris."

Stewart and his podcast guests discussed the possible outcomes of Biden losing the election due to concerns about his age and health.

Their key worry was that fascism in the US would rise if former President Donald Trump returned to the White House. Stewart is a regular critic of Trump.

"I don't know if it was complacency or deceit, or whatever it is," Stewart said. He slammed the Democratic Party as having "missed all of the threats" and leaving itself vulnerable.

Biden has been facing calls to abandon his 2024 reelection bid after a disastrous debate performance against Trump, where the president frequently mumbled and sometimes appeared lost.

Some key Democratic figures, including 16 House lawmakers, have asked that he step aside in fear that he now cannot muster the voter support to beat Trump.

If Biden were to acquiesce, Vice President Kamala Harris would be one of the most prominent potential candidates to replace him as Democratic nominee. His team has been researching whether she might fare better in polls compared to Biden, The New York Times reported on Thursday.

But Biden has appeared adamant in his decision to stay in the race, saying in an interview after the debate that only "the Lord Almighty" would compel him to step aside.

Even if he does, the Democratic Party would only have four months to gather momentum for his replacement before the November election.

Support for Biden among the Democratic Party's highest echelons is also rumored to be disintegrating. Former President Barack Obama, former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, and Senate Majority Chuck Schumer have been reported to be doubting behind the scenes that Biden is the man for a reelection bid.

In public, however, they've stopped short of calling for Biden's withdrawal, with Schumer declaring his support for the president.

Meanwhile, Stewart has been among several major celebrities voicing concern about diminishing voter confidence in Biden. The "Daily Show" host has often fretted since the debate that the president could lose to Trump.

His comments come amid reports pushing back on the Biden campaign's description of his debate performance as a one-off. Several aides are alleged to have said that his mental stamina has seriously deteriorated in the last year.

Hollywood star George Clooney stoked the furor even further when he wrote an op-ed for The New York Times on Wednesday, saying that he had seen Biden at a fundraiser looking as shaky as he did during the debate.

Representatives for Biden's campaign and Stewart did not immediately respond to requests for comment sent outside regular business hours by Business Insider.

• Jennifer Lopez and Ben Affleck have listed their Beverly Hills mansion for $68 million.
• The couple bought the 5.2-acre property last year for $60.85 million, per listing records.
• This comes after months of rumors swirling that the couple is facing problems in their relationship.

Jennifer Lopez and Ben Affleck have put their sprawling Beverly Hills mansion on the market for $68 million.

This comes just a month after rumors started swirling that the couple has been quietly trying to sell off the place, which they bought together last year.

According to the listing on Realtor.com, the luxurious property spans 5.2 acres and is nestled within a gated community. It was recently renovated within the past four months and has 12 bedrooms and 24 bathrooms.

In addition to the main residence, there is a separate 5,000-square-foot guest penthouse, caretaker house, and two-bedroom guardhouse.

In terms of amenities, the indoor sports complex features basketball and pickleball courts, a gym, and a boxing ring. There's also a 12-car garage and sufficient parking for 80 vehicles on the compound.

The house was built in 2000 and was last sold for $60.85 million in May 2023, per listing history.

Lopez and Affleck rekindled their relationship and married in 2022, almost two decades after calling off their first engagement in 2004.

The Wall Street Journal reported last year that they bought the Beverly Hills mansion after spending a few months househunting.

In May, rumors about marriage strife started swirling when Lopez and Affleck were spotted attending events alone. Affleck showed up to Netflix's "The Roast of Tom Brady" on his own, while Lopez attended the Met Gala solo.

Santiago Arana of The Agency holds the listing. The real estate firm declined to comment.

Representatives for Lopez and Affleck did not immediately respond to a request for comment sent outside regular business hours.

• Jon Stewart said President Joe Biden's handling of calls to step aside has been almost "Trumpian."
• Stewart said Biden shouldn't be playing tough and cocky, but instead show voters how he can beat Trump.
• Biden has been facing mounting calls for him to drop out but has said that only God could compel him.

"The Daily Show" host Jon Stewart has criticized President Joe Biden's recent posture toward calls for the leader to step aside, saying the latter's defense is turning "Trumpian."

Stewart, speaking in a Thursday episode of his podcast, said Biden's camp has been avoiding productive conversation and should be more forthcoming about the leader's strategy for winning the 2024 race and addressing doubts about his health.

"Even if Joe Biden came out and said: 'Look, I understand where I'm at in my lifespan and cycle and what I do. Here's how this government works,'" Stewart said.

"Rather than coming out and becoming Trumpian and saying: 'You think someone else could hold NATO together? They could never. Only God could tell me to get out of the race,'" Stewart continued.

Stewart suggested that Biden shore up voter confidence by presenting key players in his team and a genuine plan to defeat former President Donald Trump — whom the late-night show host and his podcast guests described as the "threat" to beat.

"But we're not seeing any of that. Nothing that's been done inspires any confidence, other than the fatalism of: 'It is what it is,' and this is what we're stuck with," Stewart said.

In recent weeks, Biden has come under scrutiny after a dismal showing in his first presidential debate of 2024 against Trump. The president appeared feeble as he stumbled over his words and made multiple confusing gaffes, fueling the common Trumpworld criticism that he is too old to govern.

That debate performance, and a series of other flubs that followed, has shaken confidence in Biden among his supporters, including Democratic lawmakers.

Two more Democratic House members on Thursday called for Biden to withdraw from the 2024 race after he mistakenly introduced Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy as "President Putin" and referred to Vice President Kamala Harris as "Vice President Trump."

As of Thursday evening, 16 House Democrats were urging Biden's withdrawal.

In response to the criticism and speculation about his health, Biden has said that only God could compel him to drop out of the race.

"If the Lord Almighty comes down and tells me that, I might do that," he told ABC News anchor George Stephanopoulos on Friday.

In the meantime, Biden's campaign sought to explain his debate failures due to a combination of a cold and jet lag from a trip two weeks prior.

But calls for Biden to step aside are mounting. Hollywood star George Clooney wrote an opinion article for The New York Times earlier this week, saying he had seen Biden perform at the same level at a fundraiser three weeks before the debate.

Meanwhile, Democratic stalwarts such as former President Barack Obama, former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, and Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer have been reported to be questioning Biden's bid for reelection behind the scenes.

As for Stewart, the comedian has, since the debate, repeatedly aired his anxiety that Biden's perceived weakness may cost him the election dearly, leading to Trump's return to the White House.

Representatives for Biden's campaign and Stewart did not immediately respond to requests for comments sent outside regular business hours by Business Insider.

• Joe Biden said he would take a neurological test, but only if his doctors tell him he needs one.
• "But no ones suggesting that to me now," the president said at the NATO summit on Thursday.
• His assurances come as pressure mounts for him to prove his cognitive fitness before the elections.

Facing mounting calls to take a neurological exam, President Joe Biden has agreed that he would — but only if his own doctors think there's something wrong with him.

Speaking at NATO's 75th anniversary celebratory event on Thursday, he was asked whether he would be "open to taking another physical or test before the election."

He responded that he had taken "three significant and intense neurological exams," with the most recent being in February.

The president tripped over his words then, saying he had been tested by a "neuro-neurosurgeon-neurologist."

The medical professionals had determined that he was in "good shape," he added.

"Every single day, I am surrounded by good docs," he said to the crowd at the NATO summit. "If they think there's a problem, I promise you, or even if they don't think there's a problem, if they think I should have a neurological exam again, I'll do it."

"But no one's suggesting that to me now," he said.

However, three anonymous former colleagues of White House physician Kevin O'Connor, who worked in the White House's medical unit, thought otherwise.

They told The Washington Post that Biden's abysmal debate performance suggested that the president undergo cognitive screening.

Adding fuel to the fire, Biden made a series of blunders at the NATO summit, mistakenly calling Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy Russian President Vladimir Putin before quickly correcting himself.

He also referred to "Vice President Trump" instead of Vice President Kamala Harris.

Despite his assertions that he is mentally fit to run for reelection, he faces a chorus of calls — externally and from within his own party — to check his cognitive health.

Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer, who was labeled as one of the best replacements for Biden if he dropped out of the race, said she doesn't "think it would hurt" for him to take a cognitive test.

GOP figures, too, have been calling on Biden to take a cognitive test.

On Sunday, Sen. Lindsey Graham said: "All nominees for president going into the future should have neurological exams as part of an overall physical exam."

He acknowledged that even former President Donald Trump, his longtime ally, should adhere to this.

Trump himself has historically jumped on chances to undermine his opponent's mental fitness, challenging Biden to get examined before the next debate.

Speaking at a Turning Point Action convention in Detroit on June 15, Trump said: "He doesn't even know what the word 'inflation' means. I think he should take a cognitive test like I did."

The former president said he took a cognitive test in 2018 and has since bragged about it, saying he "aced" it "very hard."

However, experts have warned that making Biden take a neurological test could be a "slippery slope."

"Today, it's basic cognitive tests. Tomorrow, it's IQ tests. The next thing you know, candidates are battling each other over who is a member of Mensa," Thomas Gift, an associate professor of political science at University College London, told Business Insider.

Representatives for Biden didn't immediately respond to requests for comment sent outside regular business hours.