Former President Joe Biden’s own allies reportedly raised serious concerns about his ability to stay in the race long before his July 2024 exit.
Ron Klain, Biden’s former chief of staff, told House investigators on Thursday that both Hillary Clinton and Jake Sullivan, two towering figures in the Democratic Party, approached him with doubts about Biden’s political future months before he dropped his re-election bid, a source familiar with Klain’s interview told Fox News.
The two “approached Ron Klain stating they believed Joe Biden was not politically viable,” per the source.
Even more damning, Sullivan — Biden’s former national security adviser — reportedly told Klain that Biden was “less effective in 2024 compared to 2022.”
While the exact reasons for their concern remain unclear, the timing and the players involved speak volumes. When top Democrats like Clinton and Sullivan question the electability of a sitting president from their own party, it’s more than political gossip — it’s an internal red alert.
Adrienne Watson, speaking for Sullivan, pushed back hard.
“Jake did not have a conversation with Ron about Joe Biden running for president before the debate,” she said in a statement to Fox News, adding: “We don’t think this is what Ron said. Your sources are wrong.”
Still, the picture painted behind closed doors doesn’t align with the party’s public messaging from that time.
According to the same source to Fox News, Klain did defend Biden’s “acuity to govern,” but acknowledged that the then-president was less energetic and more forgetful. Klain reportedly admitted Biden “often confused names and proper nouns, and it got worse over time.”
Klain also said there was no reason to doubt President Donald Trump’s own mental fitness.
Despite the gravity of the testimony, Klain said nothing to reporters as he entered or left the committee room, per Fox News. He is now the sixth former Biden aide to testify in Chairman James Comer’s (R-Ky.) ongoing investigation into whether Biden’s inner circle actively concealed signs of cognitive decline.
Notably, Klain came in voluntarily. Reps. Andy Biggs (R-Ariz.) and Ro Khanna (D-Calif.) both called him “credible,” signaling bipartisan respect for his candor.
Contrast that with other former aides like Kevin O’Connor, Anthony Bernal, and Annie Tomasini, who pleaded the Fifth during their appearances.
