Former first lady Jill Biden said she thought her husband was suffering a stroke as she watched 
Joe Biden falter in the June 2024 presidential debate against 
Donald Trump. "I was frightened, because I had never, ever seen Joe like that before or since. Never," Jill Biden said in a 30-second clip from a CBS News interview released Wednesday, the BBC reported. The full interview is scheduled to air Sunday on CBS Sunday Morning.
What did she say? "As I watched it, I thought: 'Oh, my God, he's having a stroke.' And it scared me to death," Jill Biden told CBS. She said she had never seen her husband behave that way before or since, the Guardian reported. The remarks are her most explicit public description of the night, made in a sit-down with Rita Braver of CBS Sunday Morning.
Why does it matter now? The 90-minute debate in Atlanta was Joe Biden's first one-on-one face-off with Trump of the 2024 cycle and the moment that triggered open Democratic calls for him to step aside. Biden was 81 at the time, repeatedly stumbled over his words, and at one point declared, "We finally beat Medicare," a misspeak the campaign later said was meant to refer to pharmaceutical pricing, the Guardian reported. He withdrew weeks later and endorsed Kamala Harris, who had 107 days to campaign before the November vote.
What is the political reaction? Republicans have seized on the comment as confirmation that the Biden inner circle understood his condition in real time and continued the re-election effort anyway, The Hill reported. The timing of the interview release also coincides with a separate fight over Justice Department audio recordings of Biden that his lawyers sued this week to keep sealed, Al Jazeera reported.
Figures referenced: Joe Biden, Donald Trump. — JudgeMarket.
