WASHINGTON − Joe Biden’s disastrous June 2024 debate performance, when the nation witnessed a hoarse and feeble president losing his train of thought and struggling to finish sentences, ended his reelection campaign.
Now, a newly surfaced campaign memo shows how aides persuaded Biden to debate Donald Trump from what they said was “a position of strength” and before early voting began in many battleground states.
“By holding the first debate in the spring, YOU will be able to reach the widest audience possible, before we are deep in the summer months with the conventions, Olympics and family vacations taking precedence,” said the memo, which was revealed by journalists Josh Dawsey, Tyler Pager and Isaac Arnsdorf in a new book, “2024: How Trump Retook the White House and the Democrats Lost America.”
Throughout the memo – published July 7 by Politico – the advisers take pains to reiterate Biden’s stature by addressing him as “YOU” in bold capital letters.
The debate took place months before the fall debate timeline suggested by the Commission on Presidential Debates.
“In addition, the earlier YOU are able to debate the better, so that the American people can see YOU standing next to Trump and showing the strength of YOUR leadership, compared to Trump’s weakness and chaos,” says the memo.
It didn’t turn out that way.
After the June 27 calamity, when Biden, then 81, trailed off and froze at various points before a live television audience, he faced mounting pressure from influential donors and some lawmakers to drop out of the race.
Less than a month later, Biden announced he was stepping aside and endorsed Vice President Kamala Harris, 59, as the Democratic nominee. Harris, who ran the shortest presidential campaign in history, was trounced by Trump in November, capping a remarkable comeback by the former president.
Biden cover-up?
The contents of the memo stand in sharp contrast to a narrative pushed by the Trump administration, which has accused those close to Biden, including former first lady Jill Biden, of a cover-up by making sure the former president had minimal public exposure and of keeping his supposed cognitive decline under wraps.
House Oversight Committee Chairman James Comer, R-Kentucky, sent letters to Biden’s physician and former White House aides in May demanding they appear for a transcribed interview as part of an investigation into Biden’s health and use of the autopen to sign presidential documents.
In June, Trump’s Justice Department began an investigation into pardons issued in the final days of Biden’s presidency and “whether others were taking advantage of him through use of Autopen or other means.”
Biden announced last month that he had been diagnosed with an aggressive Stage 4 prostate cancer.
Swapna Venugopal Ramaswamy is a White House correspondent for USA TODAY. You can follow her on X @SwapnaVenugopal
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Biden aides said fateful 2024 Trump debate would show ‘strength’
