Former first lady Jill Biden said then-President Joe Biden’s catastrophic debate performance against Donald Trump in 2024 “frightened” her because she thought he might be experiencing a medical episode.
Jill Biden said in a CBS News “Sunday Morning” interview, a clip of which was released on Wednesday, that the former president “scared me to death” in his June 2024 debate against Trump, which prompted Democrats to begin pressuring Joe Biden to drop out of the race weeks before he ultimately suspended his campaign.
“I was frightened,” Jill Biden said of watching her husband debate Trump. “Because I had never, ever seen Joe like that before or since.”
“I don’t know what happened,” she continued. “As I watched it, I thought ‘Oh my God, he’s having a stroke.’ And it scared me to death.”
Joe Biden’s bumbling, unintelligible answers and sickly appearance in the debate reignited concerns about his age and capacity to carry out the responsibilities of the presidency. The moment triggered an avalanche of calls for the president to drop out of the race despite reassurances from Biden allies in the White House and the campaign, including Jill Biden.
In a post-debate campaign event, Jill Biden told supporters at the time that her husband “did such a great job.”
Joe Biden ended his presidential campaign less than a month after his debate with Trump.
Since Trump’s victory, several former Biden allies, administration officials and campaign staff have criticized how Biden’s age was handled by top officials in the White House and the campaign.
Among those critics was former Vice President Kamala Harris, who wrote in her book that Jill Biden pressured her husband Doug Emhoff to continue backing Biden after the debate in a manner that angered Emhoff. Harris also wrote that she harbored concerns about Biden’s ability to beat Trump.
