几个星期以来，美国总统乔·拜登和他的盟友一直试图从6月27日的犹豫不决中继续前进总统辩论表演把它当作只是一个“糟糕的夜晚”而不予理会，并坚称这种事情不会再发生。但几周前在白宫参加音乐会的一些人说，拜登的辩论表现只是“证实”了他们的完全相反。
上个月，就在辩论前17天，许多人参加了在白宫举行的庆祝6月10日的活动，他们在采访中告诉美国广播公司新闻，在亲自观看了拜登总统的活动后，他们对他感到担忧，他们说，与他们交谈过的其他人也参加了活动。
德克萨斯州民主党众议员罗恩·雷诺兹(Ron Reynolds)在接受美国广播公司新闻(ABC News)采访时说:“我们不知道该怎么做，但我们认为这是不同的，他似乎变了。”
美国广播公司新闻采访的个人，包括州议员和一名前奥巴马白宫官员，一起形容拜登在活动中“冷漠”和“僵硬”，他的讲话是“乱码”。一名议员说，她在活动中对总统的评价是在她几个月前私下向白宫工作人员提出担忧后做出的——开玩笑地说，他们可以让总统“缝合在一起”，直到选举。
雷诺兹将很快成为第一批呼吁拜登的民主党人之一退出比赛在观看了与前总统唐纳德·特朗普的辩论后。
雷诺兹告诉美国广播公司新闻说:“看到他在辩论台上，这是我那天晚上在白宫目睹的特点。”“不幸的是，它提醒我，这可能不是一次性的，或者只是一个糟糕的夜晚。”
白宫发言人没有回应ABC新闻的置评请求。
那天晚上一些与会者的情绪，以前没有报道过，提供了内部关注的最新例子为一些人酿造在党内。此前，演员乔治·克鲁尼在周三呼吁拜登退出比赛因为他亲自主持了一场募捐活动。
克鲁尼在《纽约时报》的一篇客座文章中写道:“说起来令人震惊，但三周前在筹款会上和我在一起的乔·拜登不是2010年的乔·拜登。”“他甚至不是2020年的乔·拜登。他就是我们在辩论中目睹的那个人。”
拜登在白宫6月17日音乐会前排看起来冻结了，而其他人明显在他周围跳舞的片段最终在社交媒体上传播开来，一些视频获得了数百万次观看。
一位白宫发言人当时反驳了那些传播视频的人，他说一个媒体出口共和党人“在一个剪辑中错误地声称某个从未停止运动的人‘僵住了’，因为他们只是没有跳舞。视频里还有其他人也在这么做。”
参加音乐会的其他人也打消了对病毒时刻的担忧。得克萨斯县专员汤米·卡尔弗特在接受美国广播公司采访时表示，他“没有做任何事情”，并指出拜登的行程安排非常严格。
卡尔弗特说:“我们不会雇用一位总统与查理·威尔森和帕蒂·拉贝尔共舞。”。“我们雇佣总统来为美国人民完成工作。你知道，我认为这就是拜登正在做的。”
佛罗里达州众议员费利西亚·罗宾逊说，她没有亲自与拜登互动，但“我看到了他，他很好。”主持该活动的喜剧演员罗伊·伍德说，他没有与拜登进行长时间的互动，但他“没有注意到任何事情”
“我们聊得很开心，”当晚的表演者之一拉希姆·德沃恩(Raheem DeVaughn)回忆他和拜登在后台的时光时说。“我们进行了交谈，我们在笑，我们在开玩笑，我们在聊天。他很兴奋。”
另一位曾在奥巴马政府工作过的与会者说，拜登看起来僵住了的病毒式瞬间并没有困扰他，但拜登在活动舞台上的简短讲话困扰了他。他说他们“关心”他和附近的其他人。
这位前奥巴马官员说，“他说话含混不清，没精打采，看上去也不怎么样。”如果美国广播公司新闻部不说出他们的名字，他们就可以畅所欲言，这位官员同意发言。
“我见过他结巴，不是那个。这不是把一个词搞砸了，我们所有人都会这样，”这位与会者说。“这只是真的很低的能量，乱码的话，很难理解，他说得非常简短，因为很明显他那天不在状态。”
这位前官员说，对拜登的担忧“绝对”成为了活动中的一个话题。这位前官员说，“我们周围的人立刻就‘哦’了一声。
这位前官员还附和说，看到拜登的辩论表现让他们回想起在白宫的那个晚上。
“我想，‘哦，天啊，是不是还有什么事?他们给他足够的休息了吗?有什么问题吗?这位与会者说。就像，好吧，也许还有更多。我绝对想过。"
雷诺兹还说，他与两位也参加了白宫活动的朋友讨论了他在辩论中目睹的情况。
“我们都说，‘是啊，现在我们知道我们看到了什么...“我们没有疯，对吧，”"雷诺兹讲述了两次单独的谈话。"我们俩都得出同样的结论，我们目睹的事情令人不安。"
阿拉巴马州众议员Juandalynn Givan告诉美国广播公司新闻，她在过去一年里参加了拜登总统的多个活动，包括6月10日的活动，她注意到总统发生了明显的变化。
“我见过总统四次，就在他面前...我有机会和他交谈，”Givan告诉ABC新闻。“我注意到这个人正在衰老...我确实注意到了一些微妙之处。”
尽管她的观察，Givan说，她最终将支持拜登作为候选人，如果他继续竞选，无论总统的条件如何。
“我是民主党人。我要投拜登一票...如果他穿着尿布，如果他坐在婴儿车里，”吉万说。“但我担心吗?绝对的。但如果我必须考虑拜登或唐纳德·特朗普，我会投拜登一票。”
虽然吉万也在2023年与副总统卡玛拉·哈里斯一起主持了一场招待会，但她表示，无论候选人是谁，她都将支持该党的候选人，她对拜登竞选活动的努力表示怀疑。
在6月19日的活动之前，Givan说，她在观察到拜登在访问期间的表现下降后感到担忧，这使她私下向白宫工作人员表达了她的担忧。
“去年8月，我向一些员工表达了我的担忧，”吉万说。“我确实说过，你知道，嘿，我们必须确保总统-我们可以让他一直缝合到11月份。”
Givan告诉ABC新闻，当她的担忧得到回应时，她很失望，“一切都很好。”
她说，在那晚见到总统后，她离开6月19日的活动时更加“担心”，并质疑白宫工作人员将他置于这种境地的决定。
“我在想，‘赛尔夫，这是一个80岁的老人。“现在是7点，外面很热，”吉万说。因为我在12月见过他，因为我在2月和3月见过他，当然，现在是6月，我对自己说，“这个节目可能应该早一点。”"
White House guests recount concerns after seeing Biden weeks before debate: 'What we witnessed was troubling'
For weeks, President Joe Biden and his allies have sought to move on from his halting June 27presidential debate performanceby dismissing it as just a "bad night" and insisting that it would not happen again. But some who attended a concert at the White House just weeks before say that Biden's debate performance only "confirmed" the exact opposite for them.
Multiple people who attended an event celebrating Juneteenth at the White House last month -- just 17 days before the debate -- told ABC News in interviews that they had concerns about President Biden after personally watching him at that event, and they say others they spoke with who were also in attendance did as well.
"We didn't know quite what to make of it, but we thought that it was different and that it was -- he seemed altered," said state Rep. Ron Reynolds, a Democrat from Texas, in an interview with ABC News.
Together, the individuals ABC News spoke with -- which include state lawmakers and a former Obama White House official -- described Biden at the event as "aloof" and "stiff" and his speech as "garbled." One lawmaker said her assessment of the president at the event came after she had privately raised concerns to White House staffers months before -- jokingly saying they could keep the president "stitched together" until the election.
Reynolds would soon become one of the first Democrats to call for Biden towithdraw from the raceafter watching the debate against former President Donald Trump.
"Having seen him on the debate stage, it was characteristic of what I witnessed that evening at the White House," Reynolds told ABC News. "Unfortunately, it reminded me that it was maybe not a one-off or just a bad night."
A White House spokesperson did not respond to a request for comment from ABC News.
The sentiment from some attendees that evening, which has not previously been reported, offers the latest example of the internal concerns that appear to have beenbrewing for somewithin the party. It comes after actor George Clooney on Wednesday called for Biden toleave the raceafter his own personal experience with him hosting a fundraiser.
"It's devastating to say it, but the Joe Biden I was with three weeks ago at the fund-raiser was not the Joe 'big F-ing deal' Biden of 2010," Clooney wrote in a guest essay for The New York Times. "He wasn't even the Joe Biden of 2020. He was the same man we all witnessed at the debate."
Clips of Biden appearing to freeze while in the front row of the White House Juneteenth concert -- while others noticeably danced around him -- ultimately went viral on social media, with some videos garnering millions of views.
A White House spokesperson at the time pushed back on those circulating the clips, tellingone media outletthat Republicans were "falsely claim[ing] someone who never stops moving in a clip 'froze' because they simply weren't dancing. There are others in the video doing the same."
Others in attendance at the concert also dismissed concerns over the viral moment. Texas county commissioner Tommy Calvert told ABC News in an interview that he "didn't make anything" of it, noting Biden's rigorous travel schedule.
"We don't hire a president to dance on the beat with Charlie Wilson and Patti LaBelle," Calvert said. "We hire a president to get the job done for the American people. And, you know, I think that's what Biden is doing."
State Rep. Felicia Robinson of Florida said she didn't personally interact with Biden, but "I saw him and he was fine." Comedian Roy Wood Jr., who hosted the event, said he didn't have lengthy interactions with Biden but that he "didn't notice anything."
"We had a great conversation," said one of the night's performers, Raheem DeVaughn, recounting his time with Biden backstage. "We had a conversation, we were laughing, we were joking, we were talking. He was excited."
Another attendee, who formerly worked in the Obama administration, said the viral moment of Biden appearing to freeze didn't bother him -- but Biden's brief remarks on stage at the event did. He said they were "concerning" to him and others nearby.
"He was garbled and low energy, and he didn't look great," said the former Obama official, who agreed to speak if ABC News did not name them so they could speak freely.
"I've seen him stutter, it wasn't that. It wasn't messing a word up, which happens to all of us," the attendee said. "It was more just really low energy, garbled words, hard to understand, and he spoke super briefly because it was clear he was just not up to it that day."
The former official said concerns about Biden "absolutely" became a topic of conversation at the event. "People around us were immediately, like, 'Oof,'" the ex-official said.
The former official also echoed the sentiment that seeing Biden's debate performance made them think back to that night at the White House.
"I thought, 'Oh man, is there something more going on? Are they giving him enough rest? What's the issue?'" the attendee said. "It was like, well shoot, maybe there's more going on. It absolutely crossed my mind."
Reynolds also said he discussed what he witnessed at the debate with two friends who also attended the White House event.
"We both said, 'Yeah, now we know that what we saw ... we weren't crazy, right?'" Reynolds recounted of the two separate conversations. "We both formed the same conclusion that what we witnessed was troubling."
Alabama state Rep. Juandalynn Givan told ABC News that she has attended multiple events with President Biden over the past year -- including the Juneteenth event-- and that she has observed noticeable changes in the president.
"I've seen the president four times physically, right in his immediate presence ... had an opportunity to talk with him," Givan told ABC News. "I notice the person who is aging ... and I did notice some subtleties."
Despite her observations, Givan said she ultimately would support Biden as the nominee if he remains in the race, regardless of the president's condition.
"I'm a Democrat. I'm going to vote for Biden ... if he has on a diaper, if he's in a stroller," said Givan. "But am I concerned? Absolutely. But if I have to give consideration to Biden or Donald Trump, I'm voting for Biden."
Although Givan, who also hosted a reception in 2023 alongside Vice President Kamala Harris, says she remains a dedicated Democrat who will support the party's ticket regardless of the candidate, she expressed doubts about the Biden campaign's efforts.
Prior to the Juneteenth event, Givan said she grew concerned after observing a decline in Biden's performance during her visits, leading her to privately voice her concerns to White House staff members.
"Last August, I expressed my concern to some staffers," Givan said. "I did say, you know, hey, we got to make sure that the president -- we can keep him stitched together until November."
Givan told ABC News she was disappointed when her concerns were met with the line, "Everything is great."
She said she left the Juneteenth event more "concerned" after seeing the president that night, and questioned the White House staff's decision to put him in that situation.
"I'm thinking to myself, 'Self, this is an 80-year-old man. It is 7 o'clock, it is hot outside," Givan said. "And because I had seen him in December, because I had seen him in February and March, and then of course, now June, I'm saying to myself, 'This program probably should have been a little bit earlier.'"
