New York:

US President Joe Biden played down conspiracy theories about him and pop superstar Taylor Swift on his late-night show and gave a ready answer to a question about whether she would support him in 2024: It’s confidential.

On NBC’s “Late Night with Seth Meyers” on Monday, Democrat Biden joked with comedian Meyers about conspiracy theories that the president and the singer-songwriter were “in cahoots.” Meyers said recent polls show 18% of Americans believe Biden and Swift are working together in some way.

“Can you confirm or deny that there was an active conspiracy between you and Ms. Swift?” Meyers asked Biden.

“Where do you get this information?” the president quipped, eliciting laughter. “It’s confidential.”

The president happily noted that Swift’s broad popularity among young people, who endorsed Biden in 2020, will be a boon to his re-election bid in 2024.

“Do you think it might happen again?” Meyers asked.

“I told you, it’s classified,” Biden responded.

Biden’s appearance on the show is the president’s latest attempt to connect with young people and dispel concerns about his age after the special counsel’s report raised questions about his memory and mental acuity. The show was taped on Monday and aired early Tuesday.

Biden, 81, noted that his likely Republican opponent, former President Donald Trump, 77, is similar in age and also has a problem with speech lapses.

“You have to look at this other guy. He’s about the same age as me, but he can’t even remember his wife’s name,” Biden said, referring to Trump’s recent appearance at the conservative CPAC conference, where some believed he There is a reference to his wife Melania being called “Mercedes.”

Mercedes Schlapp, a former Trump White House communications official, is one of the organizers of CPAC. It may be she whom the former president was referring to.

Biden has also sought to address concerns about his age by comparing his policies to those of Trump on areas such as abortion. Biden supports women’s abortion rights; Trump expressed pride in appointing three new Supreme Court justices during his term who later helped strike down the landmark Roe v. Wade decision that guaranteed abortion nationwide Abortion rights.

“It’s about how old your ideas are. Look, I mean, this is a guy who wants to bring us back,” Biden said of Trump. “He wants to get us back to Roe v. Wade. He wants to get us back to a whole host of issues.”

(This story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)