Joe Biden’s eldest granddaughter lashed out at the authors of a new book about his health and mental capacity, saying the tome amounted to “political fairy smut.”
Naomi Biden, the daughter of Hunter Biden and his first wife, said in an X post she obtained an advance copy of CNN anchor Jake Tapper and Axios reporter Alex Thompson’s book Original Sin: President Biden’s Decline, Its Cover-Up, and His Disastrous Choice to Run Again, and claimed the book was tantamount to fiction.
“If anyone is curious for a review from someone who lived it first-hand: this book is political fairy smut for the permanent, professional chattering class,” Naomi wrote on X. “The ones who rarely enter the arena, but profit from the spectacle of those that do. Put simply, it amounts to a bunch of unoriginal, uninspired lies written by irresponsible self promoting journalists out to make a quick buck.”
A representative for the authors declined to comment. The book is based on more than 200 interviews, most of which were conducted after the 2024 election, and featured multiple aides, strategists, and Cabinet secretaries sharing their experiences with Biden throughout his presidency.
The blast came a day before the book’s May 20 release date, and it comes one day after Biden’s office disclosed he has an “aggressive” form of prostate cancer that has spread to his bones. Biden, 82, broke his silence on the diagnosis Monday, saying that he and his wife Jill Biden “learned that we are strongest in the broken places.
“Thank you for lifting us up with love and support,” he added.
Naomi said Tapper and Thompson’s book relies on “unnamed, anonymous sources pushing a self-serving false narrative that absolves them of any responsibility for our current national nightmare.”
“All of this at the expense of a man so completely good and honest that it is impossible for these people to ever understand the why or how of it all,” she wrote. “There are real stories to be told and one day they will be. I suspect history will reward the truth.”
Representatives for Joe and Naomi Biden did not respond to the Daily Beast’s request for comment.
Excerpts of the book published in The New Yorker included on-record quotes from multiple people who said they either bore witness to Biden’s cognitive issues or lamented the narrative’s effect on the 2024 election.
Kamala Harris’ campaign manager David Plouffe claimed Biden “totally f**ked us” by running again and then waiting to drop out of the race, compressing the timeline for a new candidate to emerge.
The authors also revealed how actor George Clooney was alarmed when Biden didn’t appear to recognize him at a June fundraiser last year, ascribing direct quotes to him and recounting his emotions as he spoke to Biden. Clooney would later write a New York Times op-ed urging Biden to drop out of the race.
A Biden spokesperson defended Biden to The New Yorker: “No one has been able 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.”
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