Jill Biden: A Senate letter could’ve ‘actually killed’ Joe

Jill uses the book to highlight the diplomatic and legislative achievements of the Biden administration that she feels have been forgotten, while also acknowledging some of its failures and struggles. 

Since leaving office, the Bidens have faced a wave of criticism, and the former president’s cognitive health has often been questioned during and after his term. 

As pundits continue to comment on Biden’s health, and those in the administration share their experiences with his fitness and his decision to run for reelection, Jill is adding her perspective to the record. 

The Washington Examiner obtained a copy of View from the East Wing ahead of the June 2 release date. 

The infamous CNN debate

As Jill recalls Joe telling her, the campaign struggled to get back on track following the June 2024 debate between him and President Donald Trump. 

Viewers across the country were surprised by Biden’s performance and appearance throughout the CNN debate, including the first lady. 

Jill writes, as she’s discussed in interviews on her book tour, that she privately questioned whether Biden’s poor debate performance was due to a stroke or ingesting some medicine before.

“I really f***ed up, didn’t I?” Jill recalls Biden telling her after the debate. 

The former first lady argues she only saw the president act as he did in the debate after surgery, despite reports detailing Biden’s decline while in office. 

Following the debate, Jill attempted to do damage control by praising Biden and reassuring staff, volunteers, and supporters that everything was OK. 

Now, Jill admits they could’ve handled the aftermath better, saying that while reassuring everyone, they didn’t acknowledge that Biden looked “very unwell.”

“Maybe only then, once we validated people’s disquiet, could we continue the conversation and find an explanation,” she wrote. 

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The debate performance would continue to fuel speculation that the administration was attempting to hide that the former president was unwell, a theory Jill said was so “ridiculous” she didn’t want to respond to it. 

Jill writes that the “biggest lesson” for them from the debate was the impact of pushing off questions. 

“The biggest lesson for us, I think, was that if you don’t explain something well enough then the question won’t go away,” she writes.

Joe dropping out 

The debate led a charge within the Democratic Party, as Biden dropped out and was replaced with a new candidate. 

Jill writes that the debate sparked a “drumbeat” to get Biden out of the race, one that would “grow louder and louder.” 

In the days following the debate, numerous Democratic lawmakers and pundits urged Biden to drop out of the race, pointing to the debate and his age as reasons.

The former first lady pushed back on the narrative that Biden was unfit to serve because of his age, acknowledging the “truth” that he was not performing as well as he had in his “younger days,” but that it wasn’t disqualifying if the job was getting done. 

Despite criticism that Biden was too old to serve, Jill argues that Biden would’ve “stepped down” if he truly thought he wasn’t capable, adding that those who worked closest with him weren’t concerned about his fitness as much as the “Democratic elites” were. 

“If you knew Joe Biden well, you’d know that if he actually got to the point where he wasn’t capable of doing the job, he would step down,” she writes. 

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Jill recounts a call from former President Barack Obama, which served as an indication of how loud the noise was getting. Soon, former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi would also organize a time to discuss the possibility of Biden dropping out. 

In the days before making his decision, Biden tested positive for COVID-19, quarantined, and recovered in the family’s house in Rehoboth Beach, Delaware. It was there that Biden discussed with advisors Steve Ricchetti and Mike Donilon the possibility of dropping out. 

Jill writes that just as many people were telling Biden to stay in the race as those who were telling him to drop out. 

Ultimately, the former first lady writes that she believes Biden decided to drop out because of a rumored letter that Senators were writing him. Jill says a letter like this would’ve “actually killed him.” 

“The Senate had always been the institution that he revered above all others. I always believed that his greatest love was for, in order: God, his family, and then the Senate. Getting that letter might have actually killed him; he’d have died from a broken heart,” she writes. 

Following the release of the public statement, Jill recalls Biden telling her he had “no choice.”

Decision to pardon Hunter Biden 

While Jill writes about her family throughout the book. She dedicated one chapter to her relationship with her stepson, Hunter Biden, and his 2024 criminal trial.

Hunter, who has openly discussed his battle with addiction, was found guilty of lying on an ATF form about his drug use to buy a gun and illegally possessing a weapon. 

Jill details each day of the trial, writing about flying back and forth for official business and to be present to support Hunter and the rest of the family. 

While sitting at the trial, Jill remembered a conversation she had where she questioned why Hunter bought the gun, writing it “made no sense” to her. Hunter told Jill he was getting coffee, saw a gun shop across the street, and decided to buy one.

At the end of Biden’s term, Jill writes that pardons “weighed heavily” on him, as senior advisers told Biden not to pardon Hunter. Jill said Biden hadn’t planned to.

But Jill writes that Biden changed his mind when he “caught wind” about how “vindictive” the Trump administration would be. 

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She also said Biden believed it was “unfair” that Hunter’s case had been taken to trial, arguing in other circumstances the case would’ve resulted in a plea deal. The family believed Hunter already paid the price because he was unemployable, became a “punching bag” for right-wing news hosts, and had paparazzi stalking him. 

Ultimately, she said Biden decided to pardon Hunter because he didn’t want their son to be “punished” for the president’s political career. 

“After the guilty verdict, when it became clear that Hunter might be facing prison time, and when others in Joe’s orbit appeared to be vulnerable to unjust, politically motivated punishments, Joe made the call. Advisors protested, but Joe remained adamant that he would not let his family be punished for his political life,” she writes. 

The role of age 

The overarching claim Jill seeks to defend in her book is whether Joe was fit to serve in office.

At various points in the memoir, Jill pushed back on critics who argued Biden had been cognitively declining and therefore unfit to seek and serve a second term in office. 

Jill attempted to set the record straight about Biden’s fitness, writing that the former president seen during the debate was a one-time occurrence. But, she also discussed the age of foreign leaders, specifically with the British royal family.

In 2023, Jill attended the coronation of King Charles III with her granddaughter, Finnegan Biden. As the dignitaries made their way into the room, Jill recalls Finnegan turning to her and making a comment about age. 

“How can they call Pop old?” Finnegan said about the president. “Look at most of the leaders.” 

Toward the end of the Biden administration, the questions about the impact of the president’s age on his performance continued to dominate news cycles. 

Jill’s memoir served as a response to those who said the former president couldn’t carry out his duties. But Democrats criticized the former first lady for releasing the book, arguing it brought the past back ahead of the midterm elections. 

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At the end of the book, Jill writes about the conversation Biden had with former Vice President Kamala Harris when he decided to drop out of the race, realizing his age was a problem with voters. 

“The leaders have made the decision for the party,” he said. “It’s about my age.”