The idea that journalists in the White House press corps, who spend virtually every day tracking the president’s whereabouts, were unaware of his general fitness for office came as a surprise to many. A large majority of voters, polls show, have said Biden is too old to run for reelection for at least a year.

But a Washington Free Beacon review of dozens of White House press corps pool reports—essentially transcripts and notes from Biden’s after-hours fundraisers and short remarks that are only distributed on an exclusive listserv—raises questions about whether Biden’s disastrous debate performance truly caught the press by surprise. For more than six months, those transcripts show Biden stumbling over his words, trailing off, and making baseless claims about his past and presidential record.