Jill Biden feared Joe Biden was having a stroke during disastrous Trump debate

Under pressure from his own party after a shaky, mumbling and confused performance, Biden dropped his bid for re-election as US president

Jill Biden feared her husband was having a stroke as she watched then US President Joe Biden stumble through a disastrous debate performance that led to the end of his 2024 re-election campaign, the former first lady said in a recent interview.

“I was frightened, because I had never ever seen Joe like that before or since. Never,” Jill Biden told CBS News in an interview scheduled to air on Sunday.

Joe Biden’s shaky, mumbling and sometimes confused delivery against Donald Trump in June 2024 gave fuel to questions voters already had about his fitness for a second term.

Biden, who was 81 at the time, stumbled on his words, stared open-mouthed and lost his train of thought as he struggled to counter his bombastic rival.

Yet immediately after the debate, Jill Biden praised her husband’s performance, telling him in front of a crowd of supporters: “Joe, you did such a great job. You answered every question, you knew all the facts.”

Joe Biden’s attempts to explain away his performance and offer reassurance that he could handle four more years of the demanding job did little to assuage voters.