Why Jill Biden was 'overwhelmed' when her husband left 2024 race

0:00It's Consider This, where every day we go deep on one big news story. Today, a brand new perspective on what essentially marked the beginning of the end of Joe Biden's presidency, when he stepped onto the debate stage in June 2024. Dealing with everything we have to do with, look, if we finally beat Medicare. The fallout from Biden's debate performance was swift. Democratic lawmakers and voters quickly called for him to drop out of the race and questioned his ability to lead the country. Several weeks later, Biden made an unprecedented decision. President Joe Biden said today that he's dropping out of the 2024 presidential race.

0:40Now, former First Lady Jill Biden is telling her side of the story, what she says she saw and knew about her husband's health and what others were telling her at the time.

0:49Jill Biden:No one came to me and said, Jill, I have seen this moment at, you know, blankety blank. No one came to me and said that. Consider this. Plenty of people in and around the Biden administration have given their take on what went wrong with his campaign. Now we're hearing about it from the person closest to him. From NPR, I'm Scott Detrow.

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1:48It's Consider This from NPR. Jill Biden's new memoir out this week is called View from the East Wing. A lot of it details her life as First Lady, memories of living in the White House, going on state visits. But she also goes into detail about why she never doubted her husband's fitness to serve as president for a second term, even after that disastrous debate performance. And that's where our conversation started. I don't want to curse in front of a former first lady and I definitely don't want to curse in front of a teacher.

2:17Jill Biden:I'm a Philly girl. I'm used to it. I wanted to start with what I thought was a really human moment in this book where you are walking off stage with President Biden after that debate. Yeah. And he turns to you and he says, I really effed up, didn't I? And you said, yes, you did. Yeah. Can you tell me what you were feeling as a spouse, as an American, as somebody in the room at that moment with him? Sure. You know, I had been in a green room and I was watching on TV. And when that moment happened, I was, I mean, I was, I didn't know what to think. You know, I was frightened. I was terrified. I thought, oh, my God, what's happening?

3:00Jill Biden:Is this, you know, is this a stroke? What is this? So when we walked off that stage, I felt relief in that moment that he realized, you know, how terribly it had gone. And then we met up in the car and then the doctors, you know, checked him out and he said, oh, he's fine. And that's what I was wondering when you mentioned the stroke. Was there a moment of let's get him checked out and see for sure? Well, there was a moment when, you know, the doctors, they were watching, too. I mean, he had a whole team of doctors around him, so I knew that they were going to check him out. But then, Scott, we went on to three more events, and he was fine.

3:41Jill Biden:I mean, it was like it never even happened. And so when people say to me what happened in that moment, I don't know. Since the first excerpts of this book came out and since you've done a few interviews, there have been some reports of White House staffers in the administration saying, we had seen other moments like that. You had never seen another moment like that? Never. Never. And you know what, Scott? No one came to me and said, Jill, I have seen this moment at, you know, blankety blank. No one came to me and said that. No one on the medical staff who were traveling with them when these supposed White House people said this.

4:22Jill Biden:They never said it to me either. How quickly did you all realize how much of a shift was taking place around you? The opinions and the views of the Biden family versus other Democratic leaders who suddenly felt very concerned about the president still being in the race? I would say I got out on the campaign trail and it was mixed. I mean, a lot of people were saying he's got to stay in, he's got to stay in. And so I think it was, what was it, three weeks after the debate that Joe got out? Was it three weeks? And it just started as this low roar, I guess, and became a loud roar. And you write that on one hand, you knew this had to be his decision.

5:12Jill Biden:Absolutely. But on the other hand, you really felt he was the best position person. You still felt that in that moment in that summer. I did, because he was still doing his job. When he did make that announcement, you write in a lot of detail about that day. And you write about the phone call that he had with Vice President Harris that morning. And you say that when she was talking to him about when and how you would endorse her, you had to leave the room. I was overwhelmed. I mean, it was, you know, just all of it. The swirl of it all. You know, how was he going to do it? When was he going to do it?

5:49Jill Biden:What were the steps? What was the process? It was overwhelming. And Scott, you have to remember, you know, he's my husband. Yeah. I love him. And to watch what he was going through and to think, I mean, he's been in public service. We've both been in public service for 50 years. That's a long time. And at one point, it just got too much. So it wasn't necessarily that you thought she was doing anything wrong. It was just the moment of... No, it was just I was overcome. Yeah, yeah. Can I ask about how you thought about the balance of personal versus public? Because these were personal decisions.

6:31This was his career, his life. That's correct. But when he's the president of the United States, any personal decision has national, international implications. How did you and he think about a personal decision and how it affected the rest of the world if that entered the equation?

6:46Jill Biden:Oh, my gosh. Well, I think, let's face it. I mean, he was a figure on the national stage, on the global stage. He was respected by world leaders. And I have to say, all the leaders came up to me, Jill, tell the president, please tell him I was asking for him. What a great leader. They had nothing but good to say about it. I mean, Joe strengthened NATO. Look what a great job he did. I mean, we were so respected as a global leader. And so did his personal decision affect the rest of the world? Yes, it did. You know, Vice President Harris wrote in her book that she felt like she could have had a better chance if she had more time to run.

7:34And I'm wondering what your response is to that thinking of should President Biden made that decision earlier if he was going to make that decision? Could he have helped his vice president?

7:42Jill Biden:You know, I'm not a political pundit. I'm not. I don't know. Yeah. I don't know. And that's my answer. When I covered the campaign, when I covered the White House, I was one of them. May I say, though, I did think she was going to win. You did. So you were surprised. Yeah. I mean, I campaigned all over the country for her. Yeah. And I saw the enthusiasm. I saw the excitement. And I went to bed that night, election night, thinking she was going to win. I was shocked when I got up in the morning and somebody called me and said, have you seen the news? So I truly believe she was going to win. I know you say you're not a political figure, but you know a lot about politics.

8:25You know a lot more about politics. I've lived it. But given that, have you thought, do you have a sense of why you think America wanted to put President Trump back in the White House in that moment?

8:34Jill Biden:I have no idea. Yeah. Knowing how it all played out, if you could tell yourself anything during that 2023, 2024 period, is there anything you'd tell yourself? You know, Scott, after what we went through, it was really hurtful. I think it was a dark period in our lives that people we considered to be friends or supporters said such hurtful things. And so to look back, it wasn't just me and Joe. Look at our grandkids. And seeing them go through that and how hurt they were, no, I'd never want to go through that again. There's a chapter in this book about a really intense week of your life, the week where you were shuttling back and forth between official duties as First Lady in France and Hunter's trial.

9:28Why was it so important to you to be in both places that week, to do this? I remember seeing the schedule and thinking, how can she do this? You're in France. You're back in Delaware. You're in France. Why did you feel like you had to be both places?

9:41Jill Biden:Well, first and foremost, I'm Hunter's mother. And of course, I was going to be there for him. But I also knew I was first lady. And I was expected to carry out my duties as first lady. And I did. You wrote at the end of that chapter, in the end, working so hard to be impartial, we guaranteed that Hunter would meet the worst possible fate. Can you tell me more about how you thought about all of that? Well, I think, you know, the process was just so unfair to Hunter. And in trying to be so impartial, Joe, you know, not interfering with the Justice Department. But then Trump got elected. He said there was going to be retribution.

10:26Jill Biden:He said he wanted Hunter Biden in jail. And there just was no way. He would have been sentenced before Trump came back into office. So can you tell me more about what specifically you were worried about, about what what Hunter's fate could look like with a President Trump compared to a President Harris? Oh, my gosh. Well, I don't really know, but I certainly don't think it would have been fair under Trump. And then when he heard Trump on the TV over and over and over saying, you know, Hunter Biden should be in jail, Hunter Biden, you know, that he was going to make sure that our son went to jail, it just was not fair.

11:08Jill Biden:And we knew what was going to happen. So that is why Joe changed his mind. He truly changed his mind. He truly changed his mind. You had about as close of a view of the role of First Lady as you could get, I think, before you got it. Your Second Lady for eight years. You were a Senate spouse for a long period of time. What? It was a long time. We're not going to go into ages here. But I guess what about that role was different than you thought it would be? Oh, my God. It was so much different because I thought, oh, Second Lady is going to be just like First Lady. You know, maybe a little bit harder, but it is completely different.

11:46Jill Biden:Your responsibilities are completely different. The expectations, the security, it was at a much higher level. I saw Michelle go through it and did such a beautiful job with such grace and poise and, you know, being, I mean, she was a Senate spouse too. But we were both working women. Michelle and I were. So we weren't like part of the Washington fabric. I was in Delaware. She was in Chicago. And to see her thrown into it and how beautifully she did, I mean, it was amazing. What's your advice to President Trump's term limited? Either way, there's going to be a new person coming into that job in a couple of years.

12:30What's your advice, Democrat or Republican, man or woman? What's your advice to that next first lady or first gentleman about what to expect?

12:37Jill Biden:Do it your own way. I mean, be authentic to yourself. I think every first lady comes into office and has whatever she has determined she's wanted to work on. I had what I wanted to work on. Everyone does it differently. Barbara Bush did it differently than Laura Bush. Hillary Clinton did it differently than Michelle. I mean, Melania is doing it differently. It's her way. So each woman so far, spouses, have chosen their own path. Former First Lady Jill Biden, her new book is The View from the East Wing. Thank you so much for talking to us. Oh, you're welcome. Thank you for having me on. Thanks for listening to Consider This.

13:19And before we go, I will plug another podcast because that is where you can watch the entire conversation with Jill Biden. It's NPR's Newsmakers podcast. You can follow or subscribe on Spotify, YouTube or wherever you watch your podcasts. This episode was produced by Tyler Bartlom and edited by Ashley Brown, with audio engineering by Sina Lafredo. Our interim executive producer is Courtney Dorning. It's Consider This from NPR. I'm Scott Detrow.