Former White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki is sharing the truth about when exactly she realized that President Joe Biden was in decline: the first presidential debate in late June 2024.
Appearing on Semafor’s Mixed Signals podcast with hosts Max Tani and Ben Smith this week, Psaki discussed the moment she realized there was potentially no path forward for Biden. She recalled telling her colleagues partway through the debate, “This is a f–king disaster,” adding that while she didn’t personally know what was going to happen from there, it became clear that many Democrats felt there was no path forward.
In response to a question from Smith about whether there was a cover-up regarding Biden’s condition, Psaki said, “I think ‘cover-up’ is such a loaded phrase… People use that term as related to Watergate or the covering up of not sharing public information about a war.”
During her time as press secretary, she continued, she “never saw that person… that was on that debate stage,” despite being in the Oval Office every single day. She added, “I’m not a doctor. Aging happens quite quickly.”
Biden’s performance in the June 27 presidential debate marked a huge turning point for the then-president’s hopes of securing a second term. D.C. insiders, media commentators, and viewers at home were struck by how poorly he performed against Trump, with The Daily Beast write-up of the night describing it as an “embarrassing trip to the nursing home.”
At several points in the debate, Biden lost his train of thought, stumbled over his words, or simply said the wrong thing, leading many to believe that the president was no longer capable, or healthy enough, to continue fulfilling his duties for another term.
Less than a month later, Biden announced his decision to withdraw from the race, and endorsed his Vice President Kamala Harris instead. Harris officially became the Democratic nominee two weeks later.
The idea that there may have been a cover-up of Biden’s cognitive decline is a popular one, and one that is explored in an upcoming book by CNN’s Jake Tapper and Axios’ Alex Thompson.
Speaking at the White House Correspondents’ Dinner last week, Thompson made his feelings clear, telling those in attendance, “President Biden’s decline and its cover-up by the people around him is a reminder that every White House, regardless of party, is capable of deception.“
During his acceptance speech for the Aldo Beckman Award for Journalistic Excellence for his reporting on Biden, Thompson also called out his own culpability, adding, “We—myself included—missed a lot of this story. And some people trust us less because of it. We bear some responsibility for faith in the media being at such lows.”
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