politics

"I didn’t listen to my staff... and then I nearly fell asleep on stage,” he said.

Mr Biden, 81, last returned from travel on 15 June, nearly two weeks ahead of the 27 June debate.

The president's remarks come amid intra-party panic ahead of November's election over his mental fitness, and after a congressman from Texas became the first sitting Democratic lawmaker to call for him to step aside following the debate.

"I am hopeful that he will make the painful and difficult decision to withdraw," Rep Lloyd Doggett said in a statement on Tuesday.

Mr Biden appeared to struggle through some responses during a debate with former President Donald Trump last Thursday.

"It’s not an excuse but an explanation,” he said at a private fundraiser in Virginia on Tuesday evening, referring to his travel.

He also apologised for his performance and said it was "critical" that he win re-election, according to ABC News.

Mr Biden made two separate trips to Europe within two weeks last month.

On 15 June, he appeared at a fundraiser alongside former President Barack Obama after an overnight trip from Italy. He returned to Washington DC the following day.

White House officials have previously said he was battling a cold on the day of the debate.

The president did not mention any illness in his remarks on Tuesday. A spokeswoman for the White House said earlier in the day that he was not taking any cold medication during the debate.

Mr Biden also spent six days at Camp David, the presidential retreat outside Washington DC, preparing for his debate against Donald Trump.

The New York Times, citing an unnamed source familiar with Mr Biden's schedule, reported on Tuesday that his days began at 11:00 each morning and that he was given time each day to nap.

The time has come to dismantle the spins, and answer the flood of briefings and false accusations by the Shin Bet and its spokespersons in the media.

Since I assumed the position of Minister of National Security, one of the highest goals I have set for myself is to worsen the conditions of the terrorists in the prisons, and to reduce their rights to the minimum required by law. This is what I committed to my voters and the people of Israel back in the elections, when I announced that I would claim the position.

Everything published about the abominable conditions of these vile murderers in prison was true. They ruled the prisons without question, and did whatever they pleased.

In the last year, before the war broke out, I waged a war of attrition to carry out the long-awaited reform of their conditions, and to fulfill the mandate I received from the public. The central organization that fought my attempts to lead this important reform, and even managed to prevent it, is the Shin Bet, under the command of Ronan Bar. It stood on its hind legs, and convinced the prime minister time and again that worsening the conditions of the terrorists would lead to an escalation, an explosion, the burning of the Middle East . What not.

On the seventh of October we discovered the bitter truth: our enemies do not need any excuse to massacre us, and lead to "escalation". They have one reason why they do this: our existence as Jews.

At the same time, after the outbreak of the war, I was able to finally carry out the long-awaited reform. The conditions of the terrorists in the prison were reduced to a minimum: we stopped the financial deposits, canceled the canteens for the terrorists, removed the electrical devices from the cells, stopped the terrorists' promenade, dramatically reduced the terrorists' stay in the showers, canceled the speaker's status, stopped the indulgent food menu that was converted into a minimal menu, and in short - We completely stopped the summer camp conditions. Terrorists who are currently released from prison testify that they will never want to return to Israeli prison. The prisons of the State of Israel are no longer a sad joke.

As part of the war, the army made many arrests of terrorists and wanted terrorists in Yosh, along with many terrorists who were brought from Gaza. A large part of the detainees were housed in a military camp, Sde Yemen, where they were held by the army. The IDF and the Shin Bet rushed to fold, and to announce that the conditions of incarceration at the site would be examined, and that the number of prisoners held at the site would be reduced. In practice, a situation has arisen in which due to the harsh living conditions of the prisoners (we are talking about despicable terrorists, yes?), there are now 1,500 vacant prison places in the Yemeni field.

Even in the prisons that are under the responsibility of the Security Service, where many terrorists were taken in, overcrowding was created. But I never thought of releasing terrorists from prison because they are crowded.

And this is the core of the dispute between me and Shin Bet chief Ronan Bar:Ronan Bar claims that the conditions of the terrorists in prison, including overcrowding, look bad in the world, and may lead to escalation. And I claim that if any other country in the world were to do what was done to us, it would do many times more against those terrorists - and put one big line on all those who cluck their tongues. Are they crowded? Next time they will think twice before they go out to slaughter, rape and loot.

And as for the Shin Bet's claims according to which the Shin Bet and the Ministry of National Security did nothing to establish and add new prisons - this is nonsense, which was fully promoted by the leftist media. These are the exact facts: the Shevash has already begun an accelerated construction project of new prisons, and since October 2,500 new prisons have been added. Another project began last April, and it includes the construction of 936 additional prisons that is currently underway, when in addition to the emergency construction during the war, the Shev S. will complete by the end of the year a construction project of about 1,200 prison places throughout the country. All this, alongside the fact that since the beginning of the war, the Israel Defense Forces has captured a record number of over 5,000 terrorists arrested by the security forces.

It is very possible that even after the addition of the new prisons is completed, the many terrorists will still be overcrowded in prison. I have already proposed a much simpler solution, of enacting the death penalty for terrorists, which would solve the overcrowding issue - legislation to which the Shin Bet is also vehemently opposed. But until this legislation, with God's help, is passed, nothing will happen if the No'Hava terrorist, who burned a baby girl in October 7, It will be crowded in the prison cell where he died.