Jill Biden Says She Thought Joe Biden Was Having a Stroke During 2024 Debate With Donald Trump

Former first lady Jill Biden said she thought President Joe Biden was “having a stroke” during his 2024 debate against Donald Trump, describing the moment as something that “scared me to death.”

“(Gray News) - Jill Biden is sharing her thoughts on her and her husband’s time in the White House, including the run-up to the latest presidential election”

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In a CBS News interview clip, Jill Biden told Rita Braver, “I don’t know what happened,” and said, “As I watched it, I thought, ‘Oh, my God, he’s having a stroke.’”

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The debate performance that prompted the remarks led to “rampant scrutiny of Joe Biden’s cognitive abilities,” according to NBC News, and Jill Biden said at the time that his performance was “great,” praising him for having “answered every question.”

NBC News also reported that Biden stayed in the race for weeks after the debate and stepped down as the nominee three weeks after the debate, with 107 days to go before the 2024 election.

NBC News reported that since leaving office, Biden, 83, revealed last May that he had been diagnosed with an aggressive form of prostate cancer that had metastasized to his bones, and that he completed a course of radiation treatment in October.

The same NBC News account said Biden sued the Justice Department to block the release of recordings and transcripts of private conversations with the ghostwriter of his 2017 memoir, stemming from a 2024 Freedom of Information Act request by the conservative Heritage Foundation.

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NBC News also tied the debate to a chain of events that “eventually led him to drop out of the presidential election,” and said former Vice President Kamala Harris called Biden’s decision to stay in the race for as long as he did “recklessness,” while also saying she did not believe it was “incapacity.”

In the New York Times account, Jill Biden said, “I had never, ever seen Joe like that. Before or since. Never,” and the paper described her as a “driving force” behind Biden’s decision to keep fighting after the debate.

The CBS News report said Biden became the first sitting president to pull out of a presidential race since President Lyndon B. Johnson stepped aside in March of 1968, and it framed Jill Biden’s comments as part of a wide-ranging interview about the election and her new book.

“Former first lady Jill Biden said she was "frightened" by her husband Joe Biden's performance and thought he was having a stroke”

CBS News

In the New York Times piece, Jill Biden’s reaction was linked to the June 27, 2024 debate in Atlanta, and the paper quoted her again: “Oh, my God, he’s having a stroke.”

France 24 reported that one year after Biden withdrew, his son Hunter Biden attacked George Clooney in interviews published on July 21, criticizing Clooney for urging Joe Biden to withdraw from the 2024 presidential race.

France 24 also said Clooney wrote an op-ed in The New York Times supporting Biden but arguing for another candidate, and it reported that Clooney had been among the first major Democratic backers to call Joe Biden to withdraw on July 10, 2024.