Jill Biden does not deny that Joe Biden may have been drugged before the debate

Former First Lady Jill Biden has reignited questions surrounding her husband Joe Biden's disastrous presidential debate against Donald Trump in June 2024. In a podcast interview published on Thursday, she said that doctors ruled out the possibility that Joe Biden had a stroke that evening, but admitted that to this day she does not know what caused his unusual behavior. When the interviewer raised the possibility that someone had put some substance in his drink, Biden did not deny it and replied: "Who knows? Who knows?"

More than two years after the debate that changed the US presidential election, Jill Biden continues to grapple with the question of what exactly happened to her husband that evening. In an interview for Jamie Kern Lima's podcast, Biden was asked if doctors had ruled out the possibility that her husband had a stroke during the debate.

"Well, they did," she replied. According to her, at the time she did not explicitly ask if her husband had a stroke, but was worried about his condition: "When I wrote my book I looked back, but I didn't say to them, 'God, did Joe have a stroke?' I just said, 'Is he okay? Is he okay?'".

When asked what she thinks happened that evening, Biden admitted she has no clear answer. "I mean, there are all kinds of theories – you know, he had been traveling a lot," she said. "I know he was tired, he wasn't feeling well that day when I met him, but there was nothing definitive that I could point to."

According to her, she herself had been on the road for two weeks before the debate and therefore was not by her husband's side in the period leading up to it. "I wasn't with him. I didn't see him in the days before, in the weeks before. I saw him maybe an hour before," she said.

Then the interviewer presented her with a particularly unusual possibility and asked if it was possible that someone had put some substance in Biden's drink. Her answer was short: "Who knows? Who knows?". The remarks connect to what Jill Biden revealed in her memoir, View from the East Wing. According to her, her husband's performance that evening was so unusual that while watching him she feared he was having a medical event.

"I wasn't shocked. I was scared," she said in the past. "Never, but never, have I seen Joe like that, not before and not since. I don't know what happened. While I was watching him I said, 'My God, he's having a stroke'. It scared me to death". In the new interview, she added that she and her husband were surrounded by doctors as part of their duties at the White House, and that that evening she was told his condition was fine. After the debate, they even continued to other events. According to her, what happened that night was "such a big departure" from the way she knew him.

The debate between Joe Biden and Donald Trump in June 2024 became one of the defining moments of the election campaign. During the broadcast, Biden struggled to complete some of his answers, stuttered, and there were moments when he paused for a long time. His performance immediately raised questions regarding his ability to continue running for another term.

The criticism did not come only from his Republican rivals. After the debate, even figures and supporters in the Democratic Party began calling on him to withdraw his candidacy. The political crisis worsened in the following weeks, until Biden withdrew from the presidential race and Kamala Harris became the Democratic nominee. Subsequently, Harris lost to Trump.

The renewed focus on the events of 2024 as part of Jill Biden's book promotion tour is also drawing criticism among figures identified with the previous administration. Andrew Bates, who served as a spokesperson for Biden, said regarding the book: "I don't understand why there was a need to publicly reopen this painful conversation for the party right now". Jill Biden responded to him sharply: "I want to say to Andrew: call me and tell me that to my face, buddy".

Prof. Matt Dallek of George Washington University estimated that the remarks will likely not significantly affect voters ahead of the midterm elections or the 2028 election campaign, but according to him, there is a feeling in the Democratic Party that the Biden family continues to dwell on the past.