Democratic members of Congress had a difficult time, on Friday, responding to President Joe Biden's poor performance at the first presidential debate. 

Some of these lawmakers spoke with Fox News about Biden's performance, and, to put it mildly, they did not have a lot of good things to say.

This comes as talk about replacing Biden as the Democrats' presidential nominee has exploded.

The Democratic Congress members, for the most part, avoided the Biden removal question.

"Panic"

To be clear, Fox spoke with these Congress members before Biden, on Friday afternoon, commented on his debate performance. The reason this is important is because it was clear that these congressional Democrats had little to no idea of how to deal with the fallout from Biden's poor performance.

Here's what one anonymous House Democrat told Fox:

I think the emotions of the night were basically disappointment, anger, and then by the end it was panic. Now, with that foundation, where do we go? Obviously, there are conversations that I believe need to be had at all levels, with the realization of, this is not just about the presidency, this is about down-ballot.

One of these conversations, of course, is whether Biden ought to be replaced. Many Democrats are pushing for this very thing to happen. But, former President Barack Obama is pushing back, claiming that Biden just had a bad night.

House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY) seemed to have no idea how to respond to questions about Biden's debate performance. He said that, for his part, he was going to "reserve comment" until Biden speaks.

Jeffries did, though, say that he stands behind the current Biden-Harris ticket.

A bad day?

Biden is now trying to claim that he was sick and had an off day, during the debate.

"I know I’m not a young man. I don’t walk as easily as I used to. I don’t talk as smoothly as I used to. I don’t debate as well as I used to," he said.

"But," he added, "I know what I do know: I know how to tell the truth. I know right from wrong. And I know how to do this job, I know how to get things done. And I know what millions of Americans know: When you get knocked down, you get back up."

Despite Biden's statement - which was seconded by Obama - at the time of this writing, there continues to be a strong push from big players in the Democratic Party for Biden to be replaced.

Whether it will actually happen remains to be seen. But, we will likely know the answer in the coming weeks.