U.S. President Donald Trump launched a scathing attack on Jill Biden after she admitted in an upcoming interview that she feared her husband, former President Joe Biden, was suffering a stroke during the 2024 presidential debate. Trump took to Truth Social on Friday to mock the former first lady's confession, questioning Biden's performance and her failure to intervene.
Trump's Reaction
"Jill Biden is now out there finally admitting that she did NOT know what went wrong with Sleepy Joe during our spectacular and highly rated 2024 Presidential Debate," Trump wrote. He added that Biden "was not exactly performing to the highest level of debate standards" and speculated about possible causes: "Stroke? Drugs?"
Jill Biden's Confession
In an interview with CBS News Sunday Morning, set to air in full this weekend, Jill Biden promoted her upcoming memoir and revealed her fears during the debate. "As I watched it, I thought, 'Oh, my God, he's having a stroke.' And it scared me to death," she told correspondent Rita Braver. Excerpts obtained by The Atlantic further detail her panic: "Is he short-circuiting? Is this a stroke? I felt like we were watching an AI hologram of the man we knew, and the hologram was glitching. Has he been drugged?" She also worried about public perception: "Oh God — will people watching assume this is how he is all the time?"
Debate Fallout
The debate, widely considered a disaster for Biden, saw him appear confused and lose his train of thought repeatedly. It forced Democrats to seek alternative candidates, ultimately leading to Vice President Kamala Harris becoming the nominee after Biden dropped out three weeks later. Trump's post suggested his own strong performance caused Biden to "choke," a claim he emphasized: "Nobody else knows the answer to that, BUT I DO!!!"
Jill's Changing Story
Jill Biden initially defended her husband on stage after the debate, telling him he had done "such a great job." However, her memoir reveals a starkly different private exchange: as Biden walked off stage, he whispered, "I really f***ed up, didn't I?" She replied, "Yes, you did." Trump criticized her for not rushing to help her husband during the debate, stating, "She said that she thought he was having a 'stroke,' and various other really bad things, and yet never rushed onto the stage to help her troubled husband, as any good wife would do."
