Then-President Joe Biden admitted to his wife, Jill, that “I just don’t feel well” ahead of his now-infamous debate with Donald Trump, the former first lady has written in her new memoir, out today.
Ahead of the June 27, 2024, showdown hosted by CNN in Atlanta, Jill Biden noticed her husband “seemed tired — overly tired,” according to her book “View from the East Wing.”
The 46th president, the oldest ever to hold the office, admitted ahead of the forum that he was feeling under the weather, but couldn’t put a finger on what was wrong, saying “I don’t know, I just don’t feel well,” she related.
A pre-debate makeup session didn’t help, with Jill recalling that her husband “looked like clay” and appeared “strangely monochromatic.”
When the debate began, the former first lady writes: “I immediately noticed that Joe didn’t look good. He didn’t seem himself from the opening.”
Joe Biden shocked the nation that night with his forgetfulness, stumbling for words, and non sequiturs such as “we finally beat Medicare.”
Behind the scenes, Jill Biden was frantically wondering whether her husband was having a stroke or had been drugged.
The White House cycled through a series of official explanations, beginning with a cold before moving on to claiming Biden was still feeling the effects of a trip to Europe weeks earlier, then arguing he had crammed too hard for the debate.
After greeting her husband on stage — and answering “Yes, you did” when Joe asked: “I really f—ed up, didn’t I?” — Jill soldiered through a stop at a local Waffle House before attempting to rally shell-shocked supporters.
“Joe — you did such a great job,” she said that night. “You answered every question, you knew all the facts.”
“I had to support him. I’m his wife. I’m not going to get out on the stage there and say, ‘Joe, you really screwed that up.’ We have all our supporters there,” Jill Biden told NBC’s “Today” show Monday in defending her remarks. “I mean, I had to support him.”
In the aftermath of the disastrous debate, many Democrats publicly and privately advised Joe Biden to exit the presidential race, which he ultimately did on July 21, 2024.
In her book, Jill Biden recalls, her husband told her following day: “Jilly, I had no choice.”
