Jill Biden confronted on touting Joe’s debate showing despite thinking he may have had a stroke onstage

Former first lady Jill Biden was confronted during a Monday interview on why she touted her husband’s debate performance immediately after his disatrous 2024 showdown with President Donald Trump, despite her worrying at the time that former President Joe Biden had a stroke.

On NBC’s “Today,” co-host Craig Melvin confronted Jill Biden with a clip from after the debate in which she praised her husband in front of a group of supporters for answering all the debate questions.

“And in the days and weeks after that, you continued to insist that the president was fine,” Melvin said. “How — how do you square thinking that he may have had a stroke with what you were saying in the days and weeks after? How do you square those two?”

Biden said she saw that Joe appeared to be OK and noted that he acknowledged he had messed up as they prepared to go to another event.

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First Lady Jill Biden speaks during a Fourth of July event on the South Lawn of the White House in Washington, D.C., on July 4, 2024. (Samuel Corum/Getty Images)

“I know we’re going into another event, or we have two more to do, and I’m, my mind is racing,” Biden said. “What do I say to him? What do I say to him? I’m his wife, I’ve got to lift him up. So, we go to the next event and I’m thinking, ‘What do I say that will lift him up that is true?’ I want to say the things that are true. And so I said, you know, ‘You answered every question.'”

Melvin noted, “That’s a pretty low bar.”

“Well, and so, you know, I had to sort of lift him up,” Biden continued. “I mean, I’m his wife. I’m not going to get out on the stage there and say, ‘Joe, you really screwed that up.’ I mean, and we have all our supporters there. So, you know, that was my, that’s who we are. I mean, I had to support him. I couldn’t come out and I mean, really, publicly say, ‘Joe, you did a terrible job in that debate.'”

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During an interview that aired last week, the former first lady revealed that she thought her husband was having a stroke during the debate in 2024.

“I wasn’t horrified, I was frightened,” Biden recalled in a recent interview.

“I had never, ever seen Joe like that before or since. I don’t know what happened. As I watched it, I said, ‘Oh my God, he’s having a stroke.’ It scared me to death,” she said.

The former president’s debate performance ultimately led to his decision to drop out of the race. Melvin also confronted Jill Biden on whether she wished she would have encouraged him to just serve one term as president.

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First lady Jill Biden and President Joe Biden wait for President-elect Donald Trump to arrive for inauguration ceremonies at the White House in Washington, D.C., on Jan. 20, 2025. (Andrew Harnik/Getty Images)

“You’re his closest confidant. You’re described as Joe’s gut check. If you could go back in a time machine and do it all over again, would you have encouraged him, maybe, to not run again?” Melvin asked.

Jill responded, “You know, as I look back, would I want to put Joe through the hurt and the pain that we felt during that time? Never.”

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“But it had to be his decision, Craig,” she said. “It had to be his decision alone, because he had to live with that decision the rest of his life. I couldn’t say, ‘Joe, do this’ or ‘Joe, do that.’ It was his decision to run in the first place — only his — even though the family had their input, especially the grandchildren. But, you know, it was his decision to get out.”