Former US First Lady Jill Biden has spoken out about her husband’s dismal performance in the first presidential debate of 2024, which ultimately marked the beginning of the end of his re-election campaign.
In an interview preview published online Wednesday, the television program CBS Sunday Morning pressed the former first lady for her reaction to the moment.
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“Did you feel scared watching it unfold?” host Rita Braver asked Jill Biden.
“I wasn’t scared,” she replied. “I was scared. I’ve never seen Joe like that before or since. Never.”
Braver then asked Jill Biden what she thought would have happened on June 27, 2024, when her husband, then-incumbent Joe Biden, took to the debate stage opposite his Republican rival, Donald Trump.
“I don’t know what happened,” Jill Biden said. “As I watched it, I thought, ‘Oh my God, he’s having a stroke.’ And I was scared to death.”
A turning point for Biden
Joe and Jill Biden have largely stayed out of the spotlight since the 2024 election, when Trump was re-elected for a second, albeit non-consecutive term.
Critics mainly point out that the debate performance is hurting Joe Biden’s campaign for a second term and fueling rumors that his health is deteriorating.
The current Democratic congressman was 81 years old at the time. The following year, he was diagnosed with advanced prostate cancer.
Biden has debated Trump twice before during the 2020 presidential campaign, but his campaign in the 2024 presidential election was widely criticized.
On stage, Mr. Biden walked awkwardly and appeared to be struggling to maintain his train of thought. At one point he was on the back burner, then suddenly declared, “We’ve finally won Medicare.”
The televised debate sparked debate over the advanced ages of both candidates and whether Biden is fit to continue leading the race. Members of Mr. Biden’s party called on him to halt his re-election campaign, ultimately calling it quits on July 21, 2024, less than four months before the vote.
Then-Vice President Kamala Harris won the Democratic nomination, but her brief campaign ended in defeat for President Trump.
Since then, Trump has sought to portray Biden as not in control of his administration. In part, it is the basis for President Trump’s efforts to undo his predecessor’s executive actions.
For example, Trump claimed that Biden’s executive orders and pardon decisions were invalid because the Democratic Party or its staff used autopens, a signature-generating device that Trump himself used while in office.
Trump also ordered the Justice Department to investigate whether government officials tried to cover up any health conditions Biden may have had while in office, including his use of an autopen.
The New York Times reported in March that the Justice Department ultimately lacked evidence to bring charges against Biden and his aides.
And Biden himself has dismissed any accusations that he suffered from cognitive decline while in office.
“Let me be clear: I made this decision during my presidency,” Biden said in a statement last year. “I made the decisions about pardons, executive orders, laws, and proclamations. The suggestion that I didn’t make the decisions is absurd and false.”
Biden sues Justice Department
President Trump and his Republican allies continue to investigate Biden’s health and mental fitness as president.
Their efforts were spurred by a special counsel report issued by Robert Hur, who was tasked with conducting an independent investigation into Biden’s handling of classified documents.
Mr. Xu rejected the accusations, but explained that Mr. Biden’s advanced age was part of what motivated his decision.
The report said Biden’s memory was “severely limited,” and Hoare doubted whether the jury would believe Biden was “knowingly” keeping classified documents.
“At the time of trial and sentencing, Mr. Biden will be well into his 80s, a age at which relatively few people are prosecuted,” Hoare wrote, adding, “Ultimately, his work history also supports the decision not to pursue criminal charges.”
Mr. Hur cited audio recordings and transcripts of Biden and his ghostwriter in the memoir, “Promise Me, Daddy: A Year of Hope, Tribulation, and Purpose” to draw some of his conclusions.
The records were primarily created in 2016 and 2017, before Biden was elected president in 2020, when he was out of office.
But Trump’s allies are seeking to release the records as evidence that Biden is unfit for office long before the 2021 inauguration.
The Heritage Foundation, a right-wing think tank, is among the groups petitioning for the paper to be published.
Biden sued the Justice Department on Tuesday to block the release of the files, citing privacy rights. The suit says Biden told ghostwriter Mark Zwonitzer sensitive information about his personal life, including the death of his son Beau.
“When the U.S. Department of Justice obtains personal information through a criminal investigation, it has a special responsibility to protect it from disclosure,” the complaint states.
President Trump responded to Biden’s lawsuit in a social media post this week, calling Democrats “crooked politicians.”
Republican leaders also face questions about their mental health. If he serves a full term, Mr. Trump will be 82 years old by the end of his presidential term, making him several months older than Mr. Biden was when he left office.
