Ex-CNN reporter slams Jill Biden memoir as ‘supreme selfishness
A former CNN journalist accused Jill Biden of helping conceal her husband's declining fitness while he pursued reelection, citing her new memoir's revelations about his debate performance.
Nia-Malika Henderson, now with Bloomberg Opinion, published a withering column Friday that branded Biden’s book “View From the East Wing” as an act of supreme selfishness and argued it confirms longstanding suspicions about a coordinated cover-up of former President Joe Biden’s deteriorating condition, according to New York Post.
Henderson, a veteran political reporter who covered presidential campaigns and the White House during her tenure at CNN, seized on newly published excerpts from the memoir that chronicle the chaotic hours following Biden’s catastrophic June 2024 debate performance against former President Donald Trump.
The excerpts, first released by The Atlantic, reveal that Jill Biden feared her husband might be experiencing a stroke as she watched him stumble through answers on the debate stage. She recalled wondering whether he had been drugged and worried that television viewers would assume his faltering performance reflected his private behavior.
Those private concerns stood in stark contrast to the public stance maintained by Biden and her allies throughout the campaign, Henderson argued. For years, the Biden circle insisted that worries about the then-president’s age and mental acuity were exaggerated or politically motivated attacks.
The Bloomberg columnist also highlighted Jill Biden’s admission in the memoir that her husband was visibly aging during his time in office and struggled with fatigue as well as persistent pain from a foot injury that never properly healed. Yet despite these acknowledged concerns, the former first lady continued to defend his fitness for another four-year term.
Henderson dismissed Biden’s attempt in the book to frame the debate disaster as an anomaly that did not represent her husband’s typical condition. Polling data had long shown Americans harbored serious doubts about whether the 81-year-old president could handle another term, the columnist noted.
One particularly damning scene detailed in the memoir occurs immediately after the debate concluded. Joe Biden turned to his wife and asked whether he had messed up badly. Jill Biden confirmed that he had, according to the book’s account.
Henderson argued this exchange alone demolishes any remaining claims that the debate represented merely an off night rather than evidence of deeper problems.
The columnist reserved her harshest criticism for what she characterized as the Biden family’s arrogant determination to cling to power regardless of the president’s condition or the consequences for their party.
She contended that the Bidens’ refusal to step aside left Democrats scrambling when Joe Biden finally withdrew from the race, contributing directly to Trump’s eventual victory and return to the White House.
The memoir also reveals that Joe Biden privately discussed serving only one term as a transitional figure to younger Democratic leadership, Henderson noted. Yet no serious succession planning occurred, even as evidence mounted that the president was struggling under the weight of his office.
Henderson questioned why Jill Biden chose to release the memoir now, suggesting that if she genuinely cared about her party or country, she would have delayed publication until after the upcoming midterm elections rather than reopening wounds from the 2024 defeat.
The column concluded with a brutal assessment of the former first lady’s historical legacy, asking whether she served either her husband or the nation well. Henderson answered both questions with an unequivocal no.
The New York Post has reached out to Jill Biden for comment on the criticism.
With information from New York Post
