Jill Biden tells 'The View' no one shared health concerns about Joe Biden with her ahead of 2024 debate
Former first lady Jill Biden, on ABC's "The View" on Tuesday, continued to defend how then-President Joe Biden ran for reelection in 2024 and framed his much-maligned debate performance as an anomaly, saying no one had approached her with concerns about her husband's health.
When asked if she still thinks Joe Biden would have been in a good place to serve as president for another four years, Jill Biden expressed doubt, citing his 2025 prostate cancer diagnosis.
"Well, not from what I know now," she said. "I mean, my God, who knew? I mean, it was so shocking to get that cancer diagnosis."
Jill Biden discussed her newly released memoir "View from the East Wing" recounting her time as first lady. The memoir in part explores the tumultuous period in the summer of 2024 after Joe Biden's debate against Donald Trump and the pressure on him to drop out of the presidential race.
The former first lady told CBS News in an interview ahead of the book's release that she was concerned Joe Biden might be having a stroke during the June 2024 debate where the then-president appeared to freeze up at points and struggled to respond to moderator questions.
On "The View" on Tuesday, she said that she and the then-president had discussed right after the debate how he had "messed up" -- even though she had publicly praised his performance in the immediate aftermath.
Asked if it's possible she had a "blind spot" in not noticing what White House aides later said were slips in Joe Biden's performance or what polls showed Americans concerned about the president's age, Jill Biden pushed back, saying no aides had come to her to discuss that.
"You're saying many aides saw this. No one ever came to me and said, 'Jill, you know, Joe's aging or something's wrong.' ... When I saw that, when all Americans saw that moment on TV at the debate, I mean, I was frightened out of my mind because I thought, 'Oh my god, he's having a stroke,'" she said.
She added later, "We had three events after that, three that night, where he got up on stage, and made speeches, whatever. And to this day, I still cannot say, like, what happened in that moment. What happened? I don't know."
Earlier, asked about how the former president is doing since his prostate cancer diagnosis last year, Jill Biden said he is "doing okay" and continuing to keep a schedule and do speaking engagements, but that cancer has been tough for him and their family.
"I mean, here I was, I'm looking through travel magazines, like, 'Oh, where are we going to go? What are we going to do?' And then we get this cancer diagnosis, and I think, what am I doing? Like, our whole life has changed now," she said.
Joe Biden has done few media appearances since leaving office, but has appeared at public events and keynote speeches. In April, he attended a portrait unveiling at Syracuse University, where he told attendees he hopes his legacy is focused on how he "never stopped striving for the cause of democracy."
