Jill Biden said Monday she would not encourage her husband, former President Joe Biden, to seek re-election in 2024 if given the chance again, citing the personal toll the campaign took on him.
In an interview with NBC’s “Today” show to promote her memoir “View from the East Wing,” set for release Tuesday, the former first lady acknowledged the damage caused by the decision to run.
“Would I want to put Joe through the hurt and the pain that we felt during that time? Never, never. I mean, it was so hurtful,” Jill Biden said.
She stressed that the final decision belonged to Joe Biden alone. Doctors had cleared him as healthy enough to serve another four-year term, she said. Jill Biden described watching her husband work long hours throughout his presidency.
“I saw him doing the job every single day, every single day. He got up, he went into the office, he did the job,” she told NBC. “I saw him work hours into the night.”
Jill Biden admitted that Joe Biden, then 81, slowed down and stuttered more when tired. She attributed those signs to exhaustion rather than any deeper impairment.
“Was he slowing down a little bit when he got tired? Did he stutter a little bit at night? Yeah, sure. But he was still doing the job, and he was doing a good job,” she said.
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The June 27, 2024, presidential debate in Atlanta marked a turning point. Joe Biden’s performance drew widespread criticism for verbal stumbles and confusion. In her memoir, Jill Biden wrote that she worried at the time he might be having a stroke.
Despite those private concerns, she publicly praised his debate performance later that night. After stopping at a Waffle House in Atlanta, she told a campaign rally audience: “Joe, you did such a great job. You answered every question, you knew all the facts.”
Jill Biden defended those remarks on Monday, saying that her role as his wife required her to offer support.
“I’m his wife, I’ve got to lift him up,” she said. “I’m not going to get out on the stage there and say, ‘Joe, you really screwed that up.’”
Joe Biden withdrew from the race on July 21, 2024, under pressure from Democratic leaders. Vice President Kamala Harris became the nominee but lost the general election to Donald Trump.
Jill Biden told CBS “Sunday Morning” she was surprised by the outcome.
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“On election night, I was certain she was going to win,” she said. “The excitement for her and the crowds… I truly felt that she was going to win. I was shocked she didn’t win, because I think she would be a good president.”
Jill Biden also addressed Joe Biden’s decision to pardon their son Hunter Biden. She said the process was unfair and had become political after Trump’s election.
“The current president won, and the Justice Department changed,” she told “Today.” “Trump said, ‘I want Hunter Biden to go to jail.’ We could not let our son go to jail on that charge for a gun that he bought and had for 11 days.”
The interview comes as Democrats continue to examine the 2024 campaign and the decision to allow Joe Biden to run despite long-standing questions about his age and fitness. Joe Biden was the oldest president ever elected when he won in 2020.
Jill Biden’s memoir “View from the East Wing” details her perspective on the Biden presidency and family life in the White House.
