The book detailing former President Joe Biden’s failed reelection bid and the alleged cover-up of his mental and physical decline is due to be released tomorrow.
Its authors, CNN’S Jake Tapper and Axios’ Alex Thompson, share damning allegations about Biden’s mental and physical deterioration in 2023 and 2024 in Original Sin: President Biden’s Decline, Its Cover-Up, and His Disastrous Choice to Run Again, out May 20.
The book’s imminent release is all the more timely following Biden’s announcement Sunday that he has an aggressive form of prostate cancer.
Excerpts of the book that leaked prior to its publication do not portray the 46th president or his closest advisers in a flattering light, as they detail startling instances of Biden’s gaps in mental acuity that were reportedly hidden from the public through 2024.
The disastrous debate against Donald Trump was the moment it all came crashing down for Biden.
Tapper and Thompson’s book is based on interviews with 200 people, including members of Congress, the White House and campaign insiders.
Responding to the claims in the book, Biden’s spokesperson Chris Meagher said that his team was “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,” Meagher added.
The Independent takes a look at five of the key takeaways from the book:
Aides discussed putting Biden in a wheelchair
Biden’s aides discussed the option of putting him in a wheelchair if his reelection bid was successful, the book alleges.
“Biden’s physical deterioration — most apparent in his halting walk — had become so severe that there were internal discussions about putting the president in a wheelchair, but they couldn’t do so until after the election,” Tapper and Thompson write.
Aides to the then-president thought it wasn’t politically viable to have Biden in a wheelchair during the campaign.
Because of Biden’s age, his doctor, Kevin O’Connor, they wrote, “privately said that if he had another bad fall, a wheelchair might be necessary for what could be a difficult recovery.”
Forgetting pal George Clooney and names of longtime aides
Biden didn’t recognize George Clooney — one of the world’s most famous actors and a man he has known for nearly two decades — at a glitzy Hollywood fundraiser.
According to an unnamed “Hollywood VIP” who witnessed the interaction, Biden seemed a shell of his former self at the fundraiser, which took place in June of 2024.
“It was like watching someone who was not alive,” the VIP who saw the pre-show interaction with Clooney recalled. “It was startling. And we all looked at each other. It was so awful.”
During that interaction the 46th president, who was being led around by an aide, had to be prompted to remember who Clooney was, according to the VIP’s firsthand account.
“It was not O.K.,” they recalled to the authors. “That thing, the moment where you recognize someone you know — especially a famous person who’s doing a f*****g fundraiser for you — it was delayed. It was uncomfortable.”
“You know George,” the aide said, repeating the actor’s full name, with stress on the surname: “George Clooney.”
“Oh, yeah!” Biden reportedly responded. “Hi, George!”
Other accounts in the book claim that Biden also forgot the names of some of his longtime aides, including National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan.
The authors write that Biden once forgot Sullivan’s name in December 2022 and called him “Steve” a couple of times. But Sullivan said he did “not recall” the incident while speaking at Politico’s Security Summit last week.
“I do not recall that ever happening,” Sullivan said. “And I will tell you, Joe Biden knows my name. He knows my name… like, I talk to him, even now, so I was surprised to read that in the book.”
Biden ‘totally f***ed’ Kamala Harris’ campaign: top aide
David Plouffe, who was drafted into Kamala Harris’ campaign after Biden stepped away from the race last summer, didn’t parse words, saying the then-president “totally f***ed us” by not dropping out of the race sooner.
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Before working with Harris, Plouffe managed former President Barack Obama’s winning 2008 campaign and served as a senior adviser in his White House.
Plouffe is quoted as calling Harris’ 107-day campaign “a f***ing nightmare,” which he said was “all Biden.”
Offered to testify at son’s trial despite packed schedule
Biden repeatedly offered to testify at his son’s federal gun trial last year amid carrying out presidential duties and running a campaign, the book claims.
Last June, the Bidens were preparing for Hunter Biden to go to trial in Delaware on charges of unlawfully obtaining and possessing a firearm in 2018 while battling substance abuse. At the same time, the then-president was attending campaign fundraisers, preparing to attend the G7 Summit, traveling to France and readying to debate Trump.
Yet, the weekend before the trial began, “Biden again offered to testify or come to court, despite his packed schedule,” according to the book.
Biden reportedly had testimony that could have helped Hunter’s defense team, but attorneys decided the move was too risky.
Hunter Biden snapped at his father: ‘You promised you’d take a nap’
Another revelation from the book featuring Hunter Biden includes a tense moment where he snapped at his father: “You promised you’d take a nap” during a trip to Ireland in April 2023.
It had been a busy start to the trip, with a tree-planting ceremony, the ringing of the Peace Bell, and an honor guard presenting arms. Hunter Biden urged his father to take a step back.
“You promised you wouldn’t do this,” he said, according to the authors. “You promised you’d take a nap. You know you can’t handle all this.”
Biden disregarded his son’s concerns and walked to the bar in the back of the room, where a woman handed him a soft drink. He appeared exhausted, according to the book.
With additional reporting from Gustaf Kilander, John Bowden, Graig Graziosi and Ariana Baio.
