Former President Bill Clinton appeared on “The View” on Thursday to defend former President Joe Biden against reports about his declining health while in the White House.
Clinton asserted that he never witnessed any signs of Biden’s physical or cognitive decline when he met with him in person. He blamed Biden’s former staff for allowing the then-81-year-old to travel abroad right before the June 27 debate, where his disastrous performance ultimately led him to drop out of the 2024 race.
“All I can say is whenever I was around him, [Biden’s] mind was clear, his judgement was good and he was on top of his brief,” Clinton said. “But look at that debate for example, what happened in the ten days before his debate and what were the White House staff thinking? He went to Europe and back twice and then he went to California once. And he was 80 years old, what the heck is he doing that for? So, why was that allowed to happen? So there’s a lot of questions I don’t know. What I do know is, we should think less about that and think more about the future.”
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The former president then suggested that presidents suffering from cognitive issues is not unheard of. He pointed to former Presidents Ronald Reagan, who was diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease in 1994, and Woodrow Wilson who suffered a severe stroke while he was still in office in 1919.
After detailed reports came out about Biden’s decline in “Original Sin,” a book by CNN’s Jake Tapper and Axios’ Alex Thompson, Clinton told “CBS Sunday Morning” that he thought Biden was “in good shape” and that the book “did not register” with him.
“I saw President Biden not very long ago, and I thought he was in good shape, but the book didn’t register with me cause I never saw him that way,” Clinton said.
Biden’s staffers, cabinet officials and Democrat lawmakers all witnessed Biden’s decline but refused to admit it to the public in order to help his reelection chances, according to “Original Sin.” His staff often hid him from the press by escorting him out of public events and by organizing the fewest number of press conferences since Reagan’s presidency.
After suffering from yet another fall in June 2023, Dr. Kevin O’Connor, the former president’s personal physician, warned Biden’s staff that he may have to be placed in a wheelchair if he had suffered another fall, according to “Original Sin.” His staff took extra strides to ensure that Biden would not trip over anything again by making clearer pathways and having him wear certain kinds of shoes.
O’Connor also expressed concern about the toll the presidency was taking on Biden and recommended that he had more rest time added to his schedule, according to Tapper and Thompson.
Biden reportedly did not even recognize his longtime acquaintance, Hollywood actor George Clooney, during a campaign fundraiser in June 2024, according to Tapper and Thompson. The famous actor was reportedly stunned and shaken by the state the elderly president was in.
Democrats, the White House and the media, including Tapper, discredited any concerns about Biden’s health until the debate, where it became apparent to voters that he could not serve a second term. Congressional Democrats then began calling for Biden to drop out of the race, which he eventually did in July.
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