Early excerpts from a forthcoming book about the end of President Biden’s term and his ill-fated reelection campaign paint a dim picture of the conclusion of his political career.
The reporting from “Original Sin: President Biden’s Decline, Its Cover-Up, and His Disastrous Choice to Run Again,” by CNN’s Jake Tapper and Axios’s Alex Thompson, reveal additional details of the steps Biden’s allies took to insulate him from the signs of his aging and preparation for a second term.
Among the most notable disclosures from the book, set to be released next week, is that Biden’s aides considered the possibility of putting him in a wheelchair if he was elected to a second term, according to an excerpt that Axios reported.
Tapper and Thompson reported that aides felt Biden, who turned 82 on Nov. 20, couldn’t politically afford to be in a wheelchair ahead of the election, so it wouldn’t happen until after.
Biden fell on a few occasions while in office, most notably tripping over a sandbag in June 2023 during a commencement ceremony for the Air Force Academy in an incident that went viral but didn’t cause him any injuries. But Biden’s personal physician, Kevin O’Connor, privately said if Biden had another bad fall, he may face a difficult recovery, and a wheelchair may be necessary.
And Biden’s aides began implementing safeguards to avoid another possible fall ahead of the election last November, such as finding shorter walking paths for him, including handrails up steps to a stage at events and having him wear sneakers more often.
Axios reported O’Connor pushed for Biden to have more time for rest, expressing worry about the effects the demands of the presidency were having on his health. He reported in medical evaluations that “significant spinal arthritis” was affecting Biden, giving him the slow and stiff walk that became increasingly prominent in his presidency.
Biden has repeatedly maintained throughout the campaign, his presidency and after leaving office that he was up to the job of commander in chief, while aides insisted he remained cognitively fit for the role despite public incidents where Biden trailed off or appeared lost, encapsulated most prominently in is disastrous debate performance against President Trump in June.
But the excerpts reveal his inner circle’s awareness of Biden’s vulnerabilities and actions to prevent even some of his staff from seeing them.
The Guardian, which obtained an early copy of the book, reported that one senior Biden aide told Tapper and Thompson that “we attempted to shield him from his own staff so many people didn’t realize the extent of the decline beginning in 2023.” The aide left the White House over their feeling that Biden shouldn’t have run for reelection.
An excerpt from the book published in The New Yorker revealed that Biden woke up the day after the election feeling he had been wronged and that he would have beaten Trump if he stayed in the race, based on the polls. But Biden’s pollsters told the authors that no polls suggesting he would have won existed, and all information available without spin suggested he would have lost by a wider margin than former Vice President Kamala Harris did.
“The disconnect between Biden’s optimism and the unhappy reality of poll results was a constant throughout his Administration,” the authors reported. “Many insiders sensed that his inner circle shielded him from bad news.”
The authors mentioned an occasion in mid-June, two weeks before Biden’s debate with Trump, when the president didn’t seem to recognize actor George Clooney at a fundraiser despite the two having known each other for more than 20 years.
“Clooney was certainly not the only one concerned. Other high-dollar attendees who posed for photographs with Obama and Biden described Biden as slow and almost catatonic,” they reported. “Though they saw pockets of clarity while watching him on television, and onstage later that night, there were obvious brain freezes and clear signs of a mental slide. It was, to some of them, terrifying.”
Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer (N.Y.) was concerned about the debate set to come, as Biden would sometimes forget during phone calls why he had called. The authors reported Schumer was concerned about Biden’s electability and discussed it with his staff but needed to keep it to a small circle to avoid adding more obstacles to Biden’s reelection.
Schumer discussed his worries at a wedding and reportedly said, “If things go south at the debate, me, Barack, Nancy, and Hakeem have a Plan B,” according to a guest who sat at his table. Schumer denied making the comment.
The revelations come as Biden has been starting to make a public return in recent weeks, taking part in a couple interviews about his time in office and campaign. His appearance on “The View” on Thursday sparked backlash among some Democrats who prefer he stay in the background as the party seeks to rebuild from 2024.
Biden denied the reports of his declining mental abilities but took responsibility for the Democratic losses in last year’s election, saying “I was in charge, and he won.”
The reports, along with a Biden spokesperson confirming Tuesday that a small nodule was found on Biden’s prostate during a routine physical exam has added to a tough few days for the former president.
Tapper and Thompson’s reporting adds on to that of The Hill’s Amie Parnes and NBC News’s Jonathan Allen in their book, “Fight: Inside the Wildest Battle for the White House.” Parnes and Allen also reported about the signs of Biden’s aging and the contingency planning that had happened if he chose to step aside.
In Tapper and Thompson’s book, former Harris campaign adviser David Plouffe reportedly squarely put the blame on Biden for undermining Harris because of how long he waited before dropping out of the race.
“He totally f‑‑‑ed us,” Plouffe is quoted as saying.
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