Jill Biden conceded Monday that if she had to do it all over again, she would not advise husband Joe Biden to seek re-election.
“Would I want to put Joe through the hurt and the pain that we felt during that time? Never, never. I mean, it was so hurtful,” she told NBC’s “Today” show ahead of the Tuesday release of her memoir, “View from the East Wing.”
But, the former first lady added, the decision about whether to run again “had to be his decision alone” and “the doctors said he was healthy” enough to serve four more years.
“I saw him doing the job every single day, every single day. He got up, he went into the office, he did the job,” she added. “I saw him work hours into the night.”
Jill Biden admitted the 46th president had slowed down and was stuttering more — but argued those were signs of exhaustion rather than mental decline.
“Was he slowing down a little bit when he got tired?” she asked. “Did he stutter a little bit at night? Yeah, sure. But he was still doing the job, and he was doing a good job.”
Joe Biden, then 81, was the oldest president ever elected and his age was on full display on June 27, 2024, when he stumbled and fumbled for words during his debate with former President Donald Trump.
In her memoir, the former first lady wrote she was worried her husband was having a stroke as he struggled for answers during the CNN forum.
But after the debate, she joined Joe Biden for a stop at an Atlanta Waffle House, followed by a campaign rally where she praised him for a job well done.
“Joe — you did such a great job,” she said. “You answered every question, you knew all the facts.”
Jill Biden defended those comments Monday, arguing she was being a good, supportive wife.
“I’m his wife, I’ve got to lift him up, so we go to the next event, and I’m thinking, ‘What do I say that will lift him up?’ That is true. I want to say the things that are true,” she said.
“I had to support him. I’m his wife. I’m not going to get out on the stage there and say, ‘Joe, you really screwed that up.’ We have all our supporters there,” Jill added. “I mean, I had to support him.”
In the aftermath of the disastrous debate, many Democrats publicly and privately advised Joe Biden to exit the presidential race, which he ultimately did on July 21, 2024.
Kamala Harris stepped in as the Democratic nominee and lost to Trump, which Jill Biden said surprised her.
“[On] election night, I was certain she was going to win,” Biden told CBS “Sunday Morning.” “The excitement for her and the crowds and, I mean, how people rallied around her, and I truly felt that she was going to win.”
“I was shocked she didn’t win, because I think she would be a good president.”
In the same interview, Jill also defended Joe Biden’s decision to go back on his word and pardon their son Hunter, saying he had no choice.
“The process was not fair to Hunter,” she told “Today.” “The current president won, and the Justice Department changed. It became political.”
“Trump said, ‘I want Hunter Biden to go to jail.’ We could not let our son go to jail on that charge for a gun that he bought and had for 11 days. We could not let him.”
