According to a new book, President Joe Biden appeared disengaged during crucial cabinet discussions and was protected by his staff in his last year in office.
The president’s advisers are said to have ran a tight ship and limited who could meet him, particularly from October 2023.
The book, authored by CNN journalist Jake Tapper and Axios writer Alex Thompson, highlights Biden’s perceived decline and events within the White House leading up to his unexpected withdrawal from the 2024 presidential race.
One excerpt, seen by Axios, reveals how Biden seemed to behave during government meetings.
In one meeting, Biden showed signs that he was “out of it,” according to a cabinet official.
They claimed his mouth was agape and behaved as if he was disoriented.
Officials also recalled Biden would ramble and sound incoherent at times.
Biden’s team kept government officials “at bay” from October 2023 and the president was “shielded in every meeting,” according to the book.
“For months, we didn’t have access to him,” an official claimed.
The official believed this was a deliberate strategy by the White House and they accused Biden’s team of sheltering him from bad news.
“The staff did him wrong,” they added.
Another former government worker told Tapper and Thompson that their access to Biden dramatically throughout 2024.
Officials had to speak to other advisers in the administration first, and messages would get passed onto Biden.
This meant cabinet workers couldn’t speak to the commander-in-chief directly.
Biden’s team has strongly denied the claims made in the book.
They told CNN that the one-term president was effective while in office.
‘WHEELCHAIR FEARS’
Other excerpts from the book have claimed Biden’s team was considering using the idea of a wheelchair if he won re-election.
Throughout his presidency, Biden had several instances of faltering, such as stumbling while boarding Air Force One and experiencing a significant fall at a 2023 Air Force Academy graduation ceremony in Colorado Springs.
In the fall of 2023, Biden’s team reportedly concocted a plan to stop him tripping.
Biden started to wear sneakers more often and used a smaller set of stairs to board Air Force One, per Axios.
His team feared that he could suffer an injury before the 2024 election.
Tapper and Thompson’s book recalled a moment where Biden struggled to recognize the A-lister George Clooney at an event in June 2024.
This was despite the fact the pair had known each other for decades.
During the meeting with Clooney, Biden appeared “severely diminished,” according to the extract obtained by The New Yorker.
“It was like watching someone who was not alive,” one Hollywood source claimed.
“It was startling. And we all looked at each other. It was so awful.”
Timeline of Biden’s failed re-election bid
President Joe Biden endured weeks of calls to step aside before he announced on July 21 that he was dropping out of the 2024 presidential race. Here are key developments leading up to his decision.
June 27: Biden’s disastrous debate performance against Donald Trump sparks calls for him to step aside. His voice was raspy and he trailed off several times after having already endured questions about his age and mental capacity following a series of blunders at public events.
July 2: Polls after the debate indicate that Trump is pulling ahead. Texas Representative Lloyd Doggett was the first Democratic congressman to publicly urge Biden to drop his bid for re-election, and big Democratic donors issued the same call a day later.
July 5: Biden does a live TV interview with George Stephanopoulos where he tries to quell fears about his age and debate performance. He called the debate “bad night” and said he was under the weather and “exhausted.”
July 10: Vermont Senator Peter Welch becomes the first senator to call for Biden to drop out.
July 11: Biden refers to Ukrainian President Zelensky as President Putin at a NATO event.
July 13: Trump is shot at a campaign rally by a wannabe assassin. His popularity and favorability rating soared after he was seen bloodied on stage but walked off with a fist in the air, telling the crowd to “fight!”
July 17: California Representative Adam Schiff and a series of other Democrats call for Biden to step aside. Even former President Barack Obama tells allies that Biden’s path to victory has “greatly diminished.” Biden tests positive for Covid-19 hours after saying he would consider ending his bid if he were diagnosed with “some medical issue.”
July 19: Biden insists he will continue campaigning in his first statement since Obama’s U-turn, despite reports that he would decide to drop out by the weekend.
July 21: Just before 2 pm, Biden announces he is stepping aside in the 2024 election and endorses Vice President Kamala Harris.
The last time Biden and Clooney had met before the June encounter was in December 2022.
Clooney ended up writing a stinging opinion piece calling Biden to abandon his re-election campaign.
“I love Joe Biden. As a senator. As a vice president and as president. I consider him a friend, and I believe in him,” Clooney’s piece said.
“But the one battle he cannot win is the fight against time.”
Biden ended up dropping out of the presidential race in July 2024 – weeks after his disastrous debate against Donald Trump.
Biden faced a crescendo of calls to drop out of the race in the immediate aftermath of the debate but was initially defiant.
He then made a u-turn, saying it was in the best interest of the Democrats and the country for him to suspend his campaign.
Original Sin: President Biden’s Decline, Its Cover-Up, and His Disastrous Choice to Run Again will be published on May 20.
Lindy Li, a former Democratic fundraiser, claimed the alleged cover-up surrounding Biden’s health will be worse than Watergate.
