Former President Bill Clinton came to the defense of Joe Biden as several reports detail a declining cognitive acuity during his term as president.
Clinton sat down with CBS News anchor Tracy Smith in an interview released on CBS Sunday Morning in light of Biden’s cancer diagnosis and insider reports that suggest his cognitive ability affected how he ran the country. During Biden’s 2024 reelection campaign, Clinton endorsed Biden and attended fundraising rallies for him before he dropped out of the race.
“Did you ever have a moment with him where you thought maybe he was unfit to run for president?” Smith asked.
“No. I thought he was a good president. The only concern I thought he had to deal with was could anybody do that job until they were 86,” Clinton said. “We had several long talks. I had never seen him and walked away thinking he can’t do this anymore. He was always on top of his briefs.”
🚨NEW: CBS News Correspondent Tracy Smith presses Bill Clinton on Biden’s decline — he denies *EVER* seeing it🚨
SMITH: “Did you ever have a moment with him where you thought maybe he was unfit to run for president?”
CLINTON: “No … I had never seen him and walked away… pic.twitter.com/xLymWvWqtP
— Jason Cohen 🇺🇸 (@JasonJournoDC) June 1, 2025
“You never saw any cognitive decline?” Smith doubled down.
“No,” Clinton repeated. “I saw President Biden not very long ago and I thought he was in good shape.”
BIDEN WAS ‘WEAKENING US FROM WITHIN’: KRISTI NOEM
Clinton said he hadn’t read the book Original Sin, co-written by Jake Tapper and Alex Thompson, because he “didn’t want to.” The book features discussions between Tapper, Thompson, and over “200 White House insiders” that suggest Biden’s cognitive decline began long before he dropped out of the 2024 race.
The book has received backlash from Biden, former first lady Jill Biden, and their granddaughter Naomi Biden. All three have denied the allegations made by former staffers.
