Former First Lady, Jill Biden admitted that former President Joe Biden’s performance in his 2024 debate against Donald Trump “scared me to death,” revealing she worried her husband was suffering a stroke on live television.

 

 

 

“I was frightened, because I had never ever seen Joe like that before or since. Never,” Jill Biden told CBS News in an interview slated to air Sunday. CBS published a preview clip from the interview on Wednesday. “I don’t know what happened. As I watched it, I thought, ‘Oh, my God, he’s having a stroke.’ And it scared me to death.”

 

 

 

Her comments offer a raw, retrospective look at an event that dramatically altered the course of modern American political history. On June 27, 2024, tens of millions of viewers watched an 81-year-old Biden deliver a disastrous debate performance, marked by a hoarse voice, frequent stumbles over words, and meandering responses.

 

 

 

The candid admission stands in stark contrast to the immediate damage control mounted by the Biden campaign and Jill Biden herself on the night of the debate.

 

 

 

At a post-debate campaign rally in Atlanta immediately following the event, the First Lady had enthusiastically praised her husband on stage:

 

“Joe, you did such a great job. You answered every question. You knew all the facts.”

 

 

 

While aides initially insisted the night was simply an anomaly caused by a cold, the performance triggered widespread panic within the Democratic Party. Though Joe Biden defiantly tried to stay in the race, telling a crowd in North Carolina days later, “I don’t debate as well as I used to”—the intense political pressure ultimately led him to withdraw from the presidential race less than four weeks later, pivoting his endorsement to Vice President Kamala Harris.

 

 

 

 

 

“Doctor” Jill Biden finally admits that she thought her husband was having a stroke during 2024 presidential debate. However, in lieu of medical care, she took him to WAFFLE HOUSE. Elder abuse? pic.twitter.com/IIQHn0Zv51

 

— Jere_Memez (@Jere_Memez) May 28, 2026

 

 

 

 

 

The interview serves as a media rollout ahead of June 2, 2026, when Jill Biden is scheduled to launch a promotional tour for her forthcoming White House memoir, View from the East Wing.

 

 

A spokesperson for Joe Biden declined to comment on the First Lady’s remarks.

 

 

 

The couple has previously pushed back against books dissecting the administration’s final year, such as Original Sin by journalists Jake Tapper and Alex Thompson, which detailed internal concerns over the former president’s cognitive stamina. In a joint television appearance last year, Joe Biden dismissed those claims as entirely “wrong,” while Jill Biden defended his grueling executive schedule.

 

 

 

“The people who wrote those books were not in the White House with us, and they didn’t see how hard Joe worked every single day,” she said at the time, describing him reading briefings and working with staff late into the night.