Trump suggests opponent Biden is taking performance-enhancing drugs
US president Donald Trump said on Wednesday he'll call for a "drug test" for himself and Joe Biden before the first presidential debate, but didn't offer any evidence for his suspicions about his Democratic opponent.
Trump said within an interview with the Washington Examiner that he was intrigued by Biden's improved performance through the Democratic primary.
"We're going to call for a drug test," Trump said, expressing surprise at the former vice president's bearing during the last debate against Vermont senator Bernie Sanders in March.
The president has no concrete evidence to aid his claims, but, he said, "all I can let you know is that I'm very good at this stuff.
"I watched him in the debates with all of the various people," Trump said, discussing the other Democratic presidential hopefuls.
Biden was "near incompetent, if not incompetent, and against Bernie, he was normal," Trump continued. "I say, 'How does that happen?'"
Trump made similar remarks in the fall of 2016, at the peak of the presidential race, positing that then-opponent Hillary Clinton had taken drugs.
"I think we have to have a drug test ahead of the debate," he said during a rally in New Hampshire.
"I don't know what's happening with her. But at the beginning of her last debate - she was all pumped up in the beginning, and at the end it had been like, 'Oh, take me down.' She could barely reach her car," he added, mockingly.
The first debate between Trump and Biden is scheduled for Sept 29. The two subsequent ones will need put on Oct 15 and 22. - AFP
