Jill Biden says she feared Joe Biden was having a stroke during disastrous 2024 debate
May 27, 2026, 3:27 PM
FILE - First lady Jill Biden speaks during an event at the White House in Washington, Jan. 16, 2025. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon, File)
Credit: AP Photo/Alex Brandon
(AP Photo/Alex Brandon, File)
WASHINGTON (AP) — Jill Biden feared her husband was having a stroke as she watched then-President Joe Biden stumble through a disastrous debate performance that led to the end of his 2024 reelection campaign, the former first lady said in a recent interview.
“I was frightened, because I had never ever seen Joe like that before or since. Never,” Jill Biden told CBS News in an interview scheduled to air Sunday.
Joe Biden’s shaky, mumbling and sometimes confused delivery against Donald Trump in June 2024 gave fuel to questions voters already had about his fitness for a second term. His attempts to explain away his performance and offer reassurance that he could handle four more years of the demanding job did little to assuage voters. Under mounting pressure from within his party, he stepped aside, and Democrats nominated Vice President Kamala Harris.
“I don’t know what happened,” Jill Biden said in the interview. “As I watched it, I thought, ‘Oh, my God, he’s having a stroke.’ And it scared me to death.”
The former first lady is promoting a book due out next week, “View from the East Wing: A Memoir.”
