4 senators say 88-year-old Sen. Dianne Feinstein's memory is 'rapidly deteriorating': report

An aide whispers in Senator Dianne Feinstein's ear as she looks off into the distance. — Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif.
Joe Raedle/Pool via AP

Four senators told the San Francisco Chronicle they're worried about Sen. Feinstein's memory.
At a memorial service in June 2021, Feinstein spoke of the deceased in the present tense.
One lawmaker recalled having to reintroduce themselves several times in the same meeting.

There are new allegations that the oldest sitting member of the US Senate isn't mentally fit enough for her demanding job. Sen. Dianne Feinstein's mental acuity raised such concern with one member of Congress that they considered staging "some kind of intervention" to get the 88-year-old California Democrat to retire, the San Francisco Chronicle reported Thursday.

Four US senators, three of them Democrats, told the Chronicle they've seen Feinstein's memory "rapidly deteriorating" to the point where they worry it interferes with her ability to do her job without significant help from her staff. Three former Feinstein staffers and a Democratic California House member also spoke with the Chronicle on the condition of anonymity, according to the report.

"There's a joke on the Hill, we've got a great junior senator in Alex Padilla and an experienced staff in Feinstein's office," one staffer working for a California Democrat told the Chronicle.

The lawmaker who wondered about having an intervention said they did so because they had to reintroduce themselves to Feinstein multiple times during a single conversation that lasted several hours. Two of the senators who spoke with the Chronicle said Feinstein has had trouble recalling their names in front of them, leaving them with a sense that she knows who they are but can't remember their names.

"I have worked with her for a long time and long enough to know what she was like just a few years ago: always in command, always in charge, on top of the details, basically couldn't resist a conversation where she was driving some bill or some idea. All of that is gone," the same lawmaker said. "She was an intellectual and political force not that long ago, and that's why my encounter with her was so jarring. Because there was just no trace of that."

"We've got an 'Emperor's New Clothes' problem here," the lawmaker added.

Feinstein has seen increasing numbers of staff departures every year since 2017, according to the Chronicle.

Other Democratic lawmakers, such as Sen. Tim Kaine of Virginia and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, defended Feinstein's cognitive capabilities to the Chronicle.

Pelosi, who represents San Francisco, called Feinstein "a workhorse for the people of California." She added it was "unconscionable that, just weeks after losing her beloved husband of more than four decades and after decades of outstanding leadership to our City and State, she is being subjected to these ridiculous attacks that are beneath the dignity in which she has led and the esteem in which she is held."

Should Democrats retain their Senate majority in the 2022 midterms, Feinstein would replace the retiring Sen. Patrick Leahy of Vermont as third in the line of succession to President Joe Biden as the Senate's president pro tempore.

Feinstein defended her ability to serve in a written statement to the Chronicle on March 28.

"The last year has been extremely painful and distracting for me, flying back and forth to visit my dying husband who passed just a few weeks ago," the senator said. "But there's no question I'm still serving and delivering for the people of California, and I'll put my record up against anyone's."

There have been several other reports in recent years concerning Feinstein's mental acuity. Politico reported in September 2020 that some Democrats were concerned with Feinstein's ability to run confirmation hearings for Supreme Court nominee Amy Coney Barrett. The New Yorker reported in December 2020 that Feinstein appeared to be experiencing memory issues.

The senator has not held a town hall since 2017. She has also drastically reduced her interactions with the public, outside of committee appearances, and avoids extended sit-down interviews, according to the Chronicle.

A former Feinstein staffer said the senator still insists on signing off on any communication released by her office, but began experiencing a great degree of trouble remembering what the staff was telling her about key legislation and committee investigations.

"It's really hard to have a micromanager who is not fully remembering everything that we've talked about," the former aide told the Chronicle. "My biggest concern is that it's a real disservice to the people of California."

A flashpoint incident occurred in June 2021, when Feinstein spoke at the memorial service for former Port of San Francisco Commissioner Anne Halsted, who the senator had known for several decades. Feinstein made two sets of remarks, according to the Chronicle.

The first time up, she made generic comments about the city of San Francisco and incorrectly gave Pelosi a shoutout as "the Democratic leader in the United States Senate." She later corrected herself by joking that she "promoted" Pelosi to the Senate, but Feinstein did not mention Halsted once in the first speech.

Feinstein went back up to talk about the late Halsted, but spoke of her in the present tense.

"It was quite disconcerting," an attendee who has known Feinstein for decades told the Chronicle. "It's clear that she's really over the line."

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