Former First Lady Jill Biden said on June 2, 2026, that former President Joe Biden would not have been fit to serve a second term, given the aggressive prostate cancer diagnosis he received in May 2025 that has since spread to his bones. But she also insisted that her husband would have defeated President Donald Trump in the 2024 election if he had stayed in the race.

The startling comments came during a media tour promoting her new memoir, “View From The East Wing,” which includes an account of the disastrous June 27, 2024, debate in Atlanta where she feared her husband was suffering a stroke onstage.

Appearing on ABC’s “The View” on June 2, Jill Biden was asked directly whether Joe Biden could have handled a second term. “Not from what I know now,” she said, referring to his cancer diagnosis. She noted that he continues to give speeches and rides Amtrak several times a month, but acknowledged that “cancer takes its toll.”

Earlier the same day, during an interview with co-host Willie Geist on MS NOW’s “Morning Joe,” Jill Biden made the case that her husband could have won the 2024 race.

“I believe he would have beaten Donald Trump in that election,” she told Geist.

The assertion came 18 months after Trump’s commanding victory over Democratic nominee Kamala Harris, which included a sweep of major swing states and a popular vote win.

Fears of a Stroke at the Debate

In her book, Jill Biden reveals that she thought Joe Biden might be having a stroke during the June 27, 2024, debate against Trump. The former president appeared confused and tired, delivering low, garbled responses he later blamed on a cold and fatigue.

She told Geist that doctors examined her husband immediately after he left the stage and cleared him to continue. The debate performance remains inexplicable to this day, she said, and the Bidens went on to three more events that night.

Joe Biden ended his reelection campaign on July 21, 2024, paving the way for then-Vice President Kamala Harris to become the nominee. Asked why she believes Harris lost, Jill Biden offered a blunt admission: “I truly don’t know.”

Behind the Decision to Run Again

Jill Biden explained that internal Democratic polling showed Joe Biden as the only candidate capable of defeating Trump, and that grassroots enthusiasm in 2023 overrode the family’s doubts about another campaign. She said her husband wrestled with whether he was too old for another term, but the polling ultimately settled the question.

“Joe had to decide whether to run again,” she said. “But, like you said, you know, we did well — the Democrats did well — in the 2022 midterms, and in 2023, the Democratic Party was totally behind Joe, and people, everywhere I went, ‘Joe’s got to do it again! He’s got to run! He’s got to run!'”

Pushback From Former Aides

Several former Biden administration aides told reporters covering the book rollout that the stories felt selfish and disingenuous. CNN anchor Jake Tapper called Jill Biden the “Queen of Omission,” saying her defense of her husband’s cognitive fitness was very difficult to believe, if not just downright false.

Hunter Biden, the former president’s son, fired back on social media on June 3, accusing Tapper of attacking his stepmother rather than scrutinizing the Trump family.

Jill Biden firmly denied that her husband’s inner circle attempted to mislead the country about his health while he was in office. She argued that the very fact that Joe Biden’s team proposed the June 2024 debate undermined the notion of a coverup — pointing out that an inner circle attempting to hide him would not have pushed him onto a debate stage with Trump.

Pelosi, Hunter and a Cancer Diagnosis

Jill Biden also addressed her feelings toward former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, who in 2024 effectively called on Joe Biden to end his campaign. The former first lady described that period only as hard.

She defended her husband’s decision to pardon their son, Hunter Biden, on December 1, 2024. Hunter Biden was convicted in 2024 of multiple firearms and tax offenses, and the pardon drew sharp criticism from Republicans and several Democrats. Jill Biden framed the move as a defensive necessity, arguing that Trump had vowed retribution against their son and that the family could not allow that to unfold.