Former aides to President Joe Biden are not buying former First Lady Jill Biden's claim that she thought her husband had a 'stroke' during the 2024 presidential debate.
Dr Biden is on the cusp of releasing her White House memoir, View From the East Wing, and kicked off the press tour by doing an interview with CBS Sunday Morning correspondent Rita Braver. The book comes out on Tuesday, with Dr Biden then embarking on an eight-city tour.
To CBS, she suggested that she was shocked by her husband's debate performance, along with everyone else.
'I was frightened, because I had never ever seen Joe like that before or since. Never,' the former First Lady said. 'I don't know what happened. As I watched it, I thought, 'Oh, my God, he's having a stroke,' And it scared me to death.'
In the pages of her book, Dr Biden took it a step further.
'Is this a stroke? I felt like we were watching an AI hologram of the man we knew, and the hologram was glitching. Has he been drugged?' she wrote, according to an excerpt obtained by the Atlantic.
But sources who worked in that White House don't think what Dr Biden claimed adds up.
'If she felt he was having a stroke, she should have taken him to Walter Reed instead of directly to supporters to tell us all what a great job he did,' one former Biden official said.
Another added: 'I just do not believe it. It seems fake and rehearsed.'
Questions from Former Officials
A third former Biden White House official had a lot of questions.
'I understand why someone watching on television might think that. I mean, I did when I saw him,' the official said of the President's poor performance. 'For a lot of us, it was the first time seeing the President publicly in about a week.'
Like many aides, the official hadn't traveled with Biden to Camp David, where he was holed up for about a week engaging in debate prep with only his inner circle.
The official floated that it was less likely Biden's own wife would be surprised.
'The idea that Jill Biden spent the day with him and then he somehow had a stroke mere seconds later just doesn't make sense to me. All of his most senior advisers were there,' the official said.
'They didn't see any signs of a stroke while he was getting mic'd up? During final touches? While wishing the boss luck,' the former White House official continued.
The accidental drugging claims also didn't make sense to the ex-official.
'And even if I swap that out and think about the idea of being drugged, like taking a Benadryl or whatever - it still doesn't click,' the source said. 'In his final moments before he took the stage, were no alarm bells ringing?'
Criticism of Post-Debate Actions
The former First Lady also garnered criticism for her performance in the debate's aftermath, as the 81-year-old President made not one but two campaign appearances directly following.
Joe and Jill headed to an Atlanta-area watch party to greet supporters.
'Joe, you did such a great job. You answered every question. You knew all the facts,' the first lady told her husband onstage.
'What did Trump do?' the First Lady asked.
'Lied!' the crowd yelled back.
She and the President then headed to a Waffle House to meet more voters.
The second White House official who spoke with the Daily Mail pushed that Dr Biden 'knows he didn't do [well] and I would assume had seen signs of aging long before this.'
The official also wasn't impressed that Democrats were now having to relitigate this.
'What's the point?' the second official mused.
'I think if you wanted to sell books, take some swipes at Kamala [Harris] or [Nancy] Pelosi and move on,' the source added.
