Jill Biden: "I thought Joe had stroke during the debate with Trump"

©picture alliance / Consolidated News Photos | Al Drago - Pool via CNP

On July 21, 2024, President Joe Biden surprisingly announced that he was withdrawing from the race for president. Through a public statement on X (formerly Twitter), the then 81-year-old president announced that he would not seek a second term. "This is in the interest of my party and the country I represent," he announced. A particularly weak performance in a direct debate with Donald Trump at the time seemed like the last nail in the coffin for Biden's candidacy.

At the time, the decision to pull out of the race didn't come out of the blue. Pressure on Biden had risen sharply after a poor debate performance against Donald Trump on June 27, 2024, during which he appeared weak and confused. Concerns about his health and age grew within the Democratic Party, and influential Democrats began calling for him to quit.

Shortly after his withdrawal, Biden gave his full support to Vice President Kamala Harris as the new candidate. Harris immediately took charge of the campaign and within days received a flood of endorsements from party leaders, governors, congressmen and donors. The campaign was quickly renamed "Harris for President," and the Democratic Party managed to avoid a protracted and chaotic succession battle. Harris officially became the Democratic presidential candidate at the Democratic National Convention in August 2024. She chose Tim Walz, the governor of Minnesota, as her running mate.

However, the November 2024 election turned out differently than what many Democrats had hoped for. Donald Trump defeated Kamala Harris and won the presidential election. Trump won the vital swing states of Wisconsin, Michigan and Pennsylvania, collecting enough electoral votes to become president. He was inaugurated as the 47th president of the United States on January 20, 2025, following his previous term in office from 2017 to 2021.

Biden remained president until his inauguration in January 2025, after which he retired from public life.

Disastrous debate by Biden

Former U.S. first lady Jill Biden looks back on that weak debate performance by her husband Joe Biden against Donald Trump in June 2024. She now says that she thought he had suffered a stroke. This is what Jill Biden says in an interview with CBS News Sunday Morning, which is due to air this weekend.

"I was shocked, because I had never seen Joe like that before or after that time. Never," she told CBS News in an excerpt released on Wednesday.

"I don't know what happened," Jill Biden said. "When I watched it, I thought, 'Oh my God, he's having a stroke.' And it scared me to death." During the debate, then 81-year-old President Joe Biden stumbled over his words, stared open-mouthed and lost his trail of thought as he struggled to parry his rival.

©picture alliance / Consolidated News Photos | Al Drago - Pool via CNP - een foto van een van de vele ontmoetingen tussen Biden en Trump.