WASHINGTON (AP) 鈥� In her new memoir, former first lady reflects on former President against nearly two years ago and wonders whether it would have been better to acknowledge it rather than reassure supporters afterward.
The Democrat’s performance ultimately proved to be his undoing as he campaigned for reelection, amplifying concerns about whether the then-81-year-old could serve a second term. He ultimately under pressure from within his party and endorsed his vice president, Kamala Harris, who lost to the Republican Trump.
In 鈥淰iew from the East Wing,鈥� that’s being published next Tuesday, she said she still doesn鈥檛 know why her husband performed so disastrously that day.
The Associated Press obtained a copy of the book’s 274-page manuscript, which includes her first public comments about the debate and the ensuing chain of events that sent Joe Biden back to private life in Delaware sooner than he had envisioned.
The book also covers his after leaving office and their son , among other issues during Joe Biden’s term, along with how she juggled the added responsibilities of being first lady and .
Here are some highlights from the book:
She thought Joe might be having a stroke while debating Trump
Jill Biden writes that her husband 鈥渓ooked bleary鈥� in their hotel suite in Atlanta before the debate. She was confident he would do well, she said, because big events energized him. But when the CNN-sponsored event began, 鈥淚 immediately noticed that Joe didn’t look good. He didn’t seem himself from the opening.鈥�
A few minutes in, he said something out of turn about how 鈥渨e finally beat Medicare.鈥�
鈥淚s he short-circuiting? I thought,鈥� she wrote. 鈥淚s this a stroke? It felt like we were watching an AI hologram of the man we knew, and the hologram was glitching.鈥�
She wondered if he had been drugged or was experiencing a medical emergency.
He improved as the debate went on, 鈥渂ut not enough to reassure me or anyone watching that he was okay. He clearly wasn’t,鈥� Jill Biden said. 鈥淚’d never seen that look on his face before in my life.鈥�
As they walked offstage afterward, he used colorful language to whisper to her that he had messed up, which she took as a 鈥渟ign of his having returned to himself.鈥�
But “to this day, I still don’t know what happened,” she wrote. They attended a post-debate rally and dropped in at a Waffle House before traveling to North Carolina for a next-day appearance.
The official explanation at the time from the White House and others close to the president was that he was suffering from a cold. But Jill Biden said she wonders if they should have acknowledged what millions of people saw 鈥� 鈥渢hat he looked very unwell in that debate.鈥�
鈥淭he biggest lesson for us, I think, was that if you don’t explain something well enough then the question won’t go away,鈥� she wrote. 鈥淭here was never a satisfying enough explanation offered for Joe’s debate performance, and a lot of people never got over it.鈥�
Biden鈥檚 performance in the debate crystallized the concerns of many voters that he was too old to continue serving as president. It sparked a fresh round of calls for him to consider stepping aside as the party鈥檚 nominee as fellow Democrats feared a Trump return to the White House if Biden remained as their candidate.
The drumbeat of calls for him to leave the race started before the debate had ended and, 鈥渋n the days to come, it would grow louder and louder,鈥� Jill Biden wrote.
Fired from teaching at Northern Virginia Community College
Jill Biden reveals that while she was first lady, she was terminated by the school where she had taught English and writing since 2009. She had signed her annual contract in July 2023, and a termination letter signed by the college president was hand-delivered that winter.
The grant used to pay her salary had dried up.
鈥淚 felt sick,鈥� she wrote. 鈥淚 was hosting holiday parties at the White House, so I had to go from seeing emails about my firing to groups of children belting out 鈥橨ingle Bells.’鈥�
Ultimately, the issue was resolved 鈥� she did not say how 鈥�- 鈥渁nd I kept my position.鈥�
But she in December 2024, wrapping up a 40-year career as an educator. She wrote in the book that she’s exploring an opportunity to teach GED classes at an undisclosed women’s prison.
Jill Biden is 鈥榩ained鈥� by the East Wing’s destruction
People in Washington sent her photos of and she said, 鈥淚 could barely look.鈥�
The East Wing was the and their staffs, the social office, the military office and other operations. Trump had it torn down last year to build a ballroom.
鈥淎 major landmark and historic treasure was being treated like an extreme fixer-upper on HGTV鈥檚 鈥楶roperty Brothers,鈥欌�� she wrote, adding that what 鈥減ained me鈥� was 鈥渢he symbolic bulldozing of history and the eradication of institutional memory.鈥�
Anger over her husband’s prostate cancer diagnosis
She noticed that Biden started waking up repeatedly in the middle of the night in the year before they left the White House. She alerted his doctors and urged him to see a urologist.
About four months after leaving office, in May 2025, he was diagnosed with stage IV prostate cancer that had spread to his bones. Biden underwent daily radiation treatment for five and a half weeks and takes hormone pills that can cause him to become fatigued and moody.
鈥淏ut we couldn’t dwell in the grief because we were put immediately on the defensive, accused of having hidden his illness,鈥� she wrote.
The White House has a doctor’s office and presidents have access to the best medical care.
鈥淛oe couldn’t stub his toe without 10 people wanting to run at him waving bales of gauze,” she wrote. 鈥淵ou put the president in bubble wrap, and he ends up with stage IV prostate cancer? It made no sense.鈥�
She disagreed with her husband’s initial refusal to pardon son Hunter
Shortly before that fateful debate, Hunter Biden had been convicted of all three felony charges related , prosecutors argued, he lied on a mandatory gun-purchase form by saying he was not illegally using or addicted to drugs.
The family was surprised the case went to trial and viewed it as politically motivated.
While Joe Biden had vowed that he wouldn’t pardon his son if he were convicted, the former first lady saw things differently.
鈥淚n the end, it felt like in working so hard to be impartial, we guaranteed that Hunter would meet the worst possible legal fate,” she wrote. “Joe might have gone too far, in my opinion, to show that his family was being treated with complete impartiality.鈥�
But during his final weeks in office, Biden issued , sparing him a possible prison sentence, and for , fearing they might become targets of the incoming Trump administration.
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