Former First Lady Jill Biden said she believed her husband, then-President Joe Biden, was suffering a medical emergency as she watched his performance in the June 2024 debate that unraveled his reelection campaign. In an interview with CBS News and in excerpts from her forthcoming memoir, Biden described the experience in the most personal terms any member of the president’s family has yet offered.
“I was frightened, because I had never ever seen Joe like that before or since. Never,” Biden told CBS News. “I don’t know what happened. As I watched it, I thought, ‘Oh, my God, he’s having a stroke.’ And it scared me to death.”
The debate, held in June 2024 against Republican nominee Donald Trump, became the pivotal moment of the campaign. Biden’s delivery — which the Associated Press described at the time as shaky, mumbling, and sometimes confused — gave force to voter concerns about his fitness for a second term that had circulated for months. His subsequent attempts to explain the performance and reassure the public did not quell the anxiety within his own party.
Under intensifying pressure from Democratic leaders, Biden withdrew from the race weeks later. Vice President Kamala Harris became the party’s nominee in his place.
Jill Biden’s account appears in the CBS interview scheduled to air Sunday and in “View from the East Wing: A Memoir,” which is set for release next week. The former first lady has been promoting the book through a series of media appearances. MSI previously reported that the memoir would detail Joe Biden’s decision to end his 2024 reelection bid.