Bill Clinton defended Joe Biden amid renewed scrutiny over the health and cognitive abilities of the 46th president of the United States. In an interview on CBS Sunday Morning, Clinton dismissed claims that Biden’s aides concealed signs of his physical and cognitive decline during his reelection campaign.
When asked if he’d ever seen Biden as unfit to serve, Clinton said “No” emphatically. “I thought he was a good president,” he added. Emphasizing Biden’s age as the only real concern, the former president said, “We’d had several long talks. I never walked away thinking, ‘He can’t do this anymore.’ He was always on top of his briefs.”
Clinton said he had seen Biden recently and believed he was “in good shape.”
Health concerns surrounded Biden during his time in office, especially after a widely criticized debate performance in June 2024. He eventually dropped out of the 2024 race, with Vice President Kamala Harris stepping in as the Democratic nominee. She later lost to Trump, who returned to the White House in January 2025.
In May, Biden revealed he had been diagnosed with an aggressive form of prostate cancer, sparking further questions about his health during his presidency.
Original Sin – The Book
CNN’s Jake Tapper and Axios journalist Alex Thompson made claims about Biden’s health and cognitive abilities in their book ORIGINAL SIN: President Biden’s Decline, Its Cover-Up, and His Disastrous Choice to Run Again.
The book recounts key moments from Biden’s presidency, including his son Hunter’s struggles and trial, his interview with Special Counsel Robert Hur, his D-Day visit to France, and George Clooney’s New York Times op-ed urging him to step down. The authors conclude that Biden “had moments of incoherence, of a stark inability to communicate or recognize people or recall important facts.”
Clinton also revealed that he chose not to read Original Sin, arguing that some are using it to unfairly blame Biden for Donald Trump’s reelection. “I didn’t want to because he’s not president anymore, and I think he did a good job,” he said.
