President Donald Trump revealed on Wednesday he is going to call for a drug test for both himself and Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden ahead of his debate with the former vice president next month.
Trump expressed skepticism surrounding Biden’s debate performance against Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) on March 15 and suggested during an Oval Office interview with the Washington Examiner drugs could have been the reason behind the improvement.
“Nobody thought that he was even going to win. Because his debate performances were so bad. Frankly, his best performance was against Bernie,” Trump said.
He continued, “We’re going to call for a drug test, by the way, because his best performance was against Bernie. It wasn’t that he was Winston Churchill because he wasn’t, but it was a normal, boring debate. You know, nothing amazing happened. And we are going to call for a drug test because there’s no way — you can’t do that.”
Trump questioned how Biden struggled before he debated with Sanders and then “all of a sudden” bounced back and performed well.
The president recognized he might not be able to request a drug test, but reiterated he thinks “it’s appropriate” and “they should do it.”
“Go back and watch his performances in some of those debates. He didn’t know where he was. And all of a sudden, he was not good, he was normal, and I don’t understand how,” Trump said.
He added, “I don’t know if there is or not, but somebody said to me, ‘He must be on drugs.’ I don’t know if that’s true or not, but I’m asking for a drug test. Both candidates. Me, too. I take an aspirin a day.”
There are three scheduled general election debates between Biden and Trump set for Sept. 29, Oct. 15 and Oct. 22.