A 2024 Biden campaign adviser recalled thinking that former President Biden could not “form a f—ing sentence” during a post-debate conversation aboard Air Force One last summer, according to new reporting laid out in CNN’s Jake Tapper and Axios’s Alex Thompson’s book.
The book, “Original Sin: President Biden’s Decline, Its Cover-Up, and His Disastrous Choice to Run Again,” was published Tuesday but has made waves in recent days after early excerpts revealed new details about the alleged efforts Biden’s inner circle took to shield the public from signs of his cognitive decline during his last year in office.
One such episode, as reported by CNN, involved a campaign adviser, who recalled a conversation with the former president after the infamous debate against President Trump that ultimately derailed Biden reelection bid.
“What are we doing here? the adviser thought as the president spoke. This guy can’t form a f**king sentence,” CNN reported, quoting a passage of the book.
“If I had a conversation like this with someone who wasn’t the president, I would be worried about his health. And here he is, the sitting president of the United States,” the book continued, according to CNN.
The outlet reported that this was just one of numerous examples outlined in the book in which Democrats questioned Biden’s ability to run but declined to say so publicly.
A Biden spokesperson said in a statement criticizing the book: “We continue to await anything that shows where Joe Biden had to make a presidential decision or where national security was threatened or where he was unable to do his job. In fact, the evidence points to the opposite — he was a very effective president.”
The former president’s granddaughter, Naomi Biden, also came to her grandfather’s defense, on Monday attacking the book as “unoriginal, uninspired lies written by irresponsible self promoting journalists out to make a quick buck.”
The book’s publication comes as the former president’s health has been thrust into the spotlight. His office announced that Biden was diagnosed Friday with aggressive prostate cancer that has spread to his bones.