'He didn't understand': New book claims Biden shocked as wife announced 2024 run

At a state dinner in December 2022, Jill Biden surprised French President Emmanuel Macron, former U.S. House speaker Nancy Pelosi — and her own husband Joe Biden — when she firmly indicated the then 80-year-old U.S. President would run for another four-year term, a new book says.

Joe Biden looked “like he didn't understand,” another guest is quoted as saying, adding that they rescued the awkward moment by hastily proposing a toast to “four more years” which the president and first lady joined.

The striking vignette is included in Original Sin: President Biden's Decline, Its Cover-Up, and His Disastrous Choice to Run Again, a book by Alex Thompson of Axios and Jake Tapper of CNN which will be published next week. Raw Story obtained a copy.

Biden's fitness for office, never mind a second term, was a rising concern long before a catastrophic debate against Donald Trump in June 2024 prompted his historic decision to step aside, surrendering the Democratic nomination to his vice president, Kamala Harris, who went on to lose to Trump.

Thompson and Tapper are just the latest authors to publish an account of Biden's decline and downfall.

On Monday, the Guardian first reported on the book, revealing how unnamed aides suppressed doubts about their boss, and how Harris aide David Plouffe remains furious with Biden for having held on too long, saying the president “totally f–––ed us.”

The next day, Axios published an excerpt which said close Biden aides considered putting him in a wheelchair due to health issues including a broken foot, but decided not to for fear of showing weakness.

A Biden spokesperson said: "Yes, there were physical changes as he got older, but evidence of aging is not evidence of mental incapacity.

"… We are still waiting for someone, anyone, to point out where Joe Biden had to make a presidential decision or make a presidential address where he was unable to do his job because of mental decline. In fact, the evidence points to the opposite — he was a very effective president."

Like other books on the 2024 campaign, Original Sin contains in-depth reporting about how Biden family members, prominently including Jill Biden and Hunter Biden, the president's troubled son, pressed Joe Biden to hold on to power.

Thompson and Tapper provide another stark depiction of a president facing the gathering demands of age, while his wife “appeared to have little doubt that her husband was going to run again.”

“On December 1, 2022, the president hosted French President Emmanuel Macron for a state dinner,” Thompson and Tapper write. “Speaker Nancy Pelosi was seated next to Biden with Macron across from them. The French president was flanked by Pelosi's daughter Alexandra on his right and the First Lady on his left.

“Later in the evening, Alexandra overheard the First Lady tell Macron about her rigorous exercise routine. Campaigns are so tough and she needed to be in shape, she explained.

“Alexandra looked surprised. Campaign? What campaign? Everyone seemed happy with the four-year, 'I'm a bridge' situation.”

That is a reference to Biden's messaging when he won the White House in 2020, aged 77 — that he would serve as a bridge to the next generation of Democratic leaders.

“Alexandra then turned to the president and asked if they should toast to another campaign,” Thompson and Tapper write. “He looked back at her like he didn't understand. Alexandra thought her mom looked shocked. Everyone quickly gathered themselves. With Macron, they toasted to four more years.”

By the summer of 2024, Nancy Pelosi would be a key player in forcing Biden to quit.