"I was frightened, because I had never ever seen Joe like that before or since. Never," the former first lady told 'CBS News Sunday Morning' in a new interview
NEED TO KNOW
- Former first lady Jill Biden said she thought her husband was “having a stroke” during a June 2024 campaign debate with President Donald Trump
- Former President Joe Biden stumbled his way through the debate in Atlanta, raising questions about his age and ability to serve a second term
- “I was frightened, because I had never ever seen Joe like that before or since. Never,” Jill told CBS News Sunday Morning in an interview scheduled to air on Sunday, May 31
Former first lady Jill Biden said she thought her husband, former President Joe Biden, was “having a stroke” during his first and only debate with President Donald Trump during the 2024 presidential campaign.
“I wasn't horrified, I was frightened, because I had never ever seen Joe like that before or since. Never,” Jill, 74, said of her husband’s debate performance in an interview with CBS News Sunday Morning set to air Sunday, May 31.
Joe, 83, muddled his way through the June 28, 2024 debate in Atlanta, stumbling over his words and losing his train of thought more than once as Trump hammered the then-president on immigration and the economy. His campaign said he had been suffering from a cold that night, with Joe later telling ABC News’ George Stephanopoulos that he “was feeling terrible” while on stage.
“I don't know what happened. As I watched it, I thought, ‘Oh, my God, he’s having a stroke,’ ” Jill continued. “And it scared me to death.”
Joe’s performance raised significant concerns among Democrats about his age and ability to serve another four years, ultimately leading him to drop out of the race and endorse his vice president, Kamala Harris.
The former first lady’s forthcoming memoir, View From the East Wing, has promised to bring readers “behind the scenes” of her life at the White House, including “witnessing the abrupt end of her husband’s bid for reelection.”
She previously defended her husband’s performance in Atlanta, telling Vogue in the days following the debate that her family “will not let those 90 minutes define the four years he’s been president. We will continue to fight.”
Credit: Derek White/Getty
Speaking to a crowd of supporters after the debate had ended, Jill told her husband he had done “such a great job” on stage. “You answered every question,” she said. “You knew all the facts.”
Joe addressed his debate performance the following day at a campaign rally in North Carolina.
“I know I’m not a young man,” he said to a crowd of about 2,000 at the North Carolina State Fairgrounds in Raleigh, N.C. “I don’t walk as easy as I used to. I don’t speak as smoothly as I used to. I don’t debate as well as I used to, but I know what I do know: I know how to tell the truth!”
He added at the time that he would not be running for a second term if he did not believe “with all my heart and soul I can do this.”
Harris, meanwhile, reflected on the debate during an October 2025 appearance on Steven Bartlett's Diary of a CEO podcast. Joe, she said, “didn't want that debate.”
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“You gotta want it, right?” she said. “If you don't wanna be in the competition, it will absolutely have an impact on your performance. I'm pretty sure he did not want to debate."
The former vice president added that “there is no such thing as a perfect debate” and she had expected that there would be “something to clean up.”
“Then, you know, we saw what we all saw,” she said.
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