Jill Biden has revealed that she worried former President Joe Biden was having a stroke during his disastrous debate with President Donald Trump during the 2024 election cycle.
“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 teaser of a full-length interview airing Sunday.
On that fateful night in June 2024, Biden, looking pale and sounding hoarse, rambled through his agenda. His performance was catastrophic for his re-election campaign as members of his own party called for him to drop out of the race.
With just over 100 days until the election, Biden suspended his campaign and endorsed his Vice President Kamala Harris, who later lost to Trump.
“I don’t know what happened,” Jill told CBS News’ Rita Braver in the short video released Wednesday. “As I watched it, I thought, ‘Oh, my God, he’s having a stroke.’ And it scared me to death.”
Jill’s retelling of the infamous night was in stark contrast to how she described her husband’s performance just after he finished the debate.
At the time, the first lady told an audience of supporters while standing next to her husband, “Joe, you did such a great job. You answered every question, you knew all the facts. And let me ask the crowd. What did Trump do? Lie!”
Jill has been promoting her new memoir, View From the East Wing, which will be released on Tuesday.
In the book, Jill will recount her time as first lady, including what she has called her husband’s “unprecedented decision” to drop out of the 2024 election.
While both Trump, who is turning 80 next month, and Biden, who is now 83 years old, had their mental and physical fitness questioned during the 2024 election, the latter was more heavily scrutinized.
In May 2025, Biden revealed that he had been recently diagnosed with an “aggressive” form of prostate cancer, reigniting scrutiny about his health during his time in the White House.
Biden has made several public appearances since his diagnosis. In a speech in South Carolina in February, Biden warned of “dark days” for America.
“The threats we face today are not anything new but they’ve been amplified in the ways we have never seen before. Our future is literally on the line,” he said in an address that criticized Trump over issues including the controversy around the late convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein saga and the war in Ukraine.
