Former President Joe Biden’s team pushed him to take on President Donald Trump early in debate to show his “strength” on stage.
Biden’s senior aides argued that he should not wait until autumn for the first debate against Trump because mail-in voting in swing states would have started by then, according to a memo obtained by journalists Isaac Arnsdorf, Josh Dawsey, and Tyler Pager for their forthcoming book, How Trump Retook the White House and the Democrats Lost America,
The team said that a June 2024 date would be ideal because it would draw a large audience and coincide with the second anniversary of the Supreme Court overturning Roe v. Wade as well as a forthcoming decision from the Court about whether Trump could claim presidential immunity to shield himself from federal prosecution.
“By holding the first debate in the spring, you will be able to reach the widest audience possible before we are deep in the summer months with the conventions, Olympics, and family vacations taking precedence,” the April 2024 memo reads, according to Politico’s Playbook. “In addition, the earlier you are able to debate, the better, so that the American people can see you standing next to Trump and showing the strength of your leadership compared to Trump’s weakness and chaos.”
Instead, the then-81-year-old president delivered an abysmal debate performance on June 27, 2024, mumbling incoherently, repeating himself—and, ultimately, torpedoing his reelection bid.
The book claims the decision to put Biden on the debate stage so early was not unanimous: Some advisers suggested he avoid facing off against Trump altogether.
One unnamed donor called the White House in May, saying they were “alarmed” by the president’s appearance at a fundraiser in Chicago and urged his team to “find an excuse” to pull him out of the debates. The donor’s plea fell on deaf ears and was “rejected out of hand,” Politico reported.
The book undercuts claims that Biden’s aides tried to cover up his declining mental and physical health given that the team was so eager for him to participate in the live debates.
Allegations of a cover-up rumors reignited when Biden announced in May that he has an “aggressive” form of prostate cancer that has spread to his bones, which critics said the president must have known about while still in office.
A representative for Biden did not immediately respond to a request for comment from the Daily Beast.
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