New Book: Biden Cabinet members worried about his capacity in a crisis
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Then-President Biden presides over a Cabinet meeting in October 2023. He's flanked by, from left, Interior Secretary Deb Haaland, Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin. Photo: Brendan Smialowski/AFP via Getty Images
This story is adapted from the forthcoming book "Original Sin: President Biden's Decline, Its Cover-Up, and His Disastrous Choice to Run Again," by CNN's Jake Tapper and Axios' Alex Thompson, out May 20.
In the last year of Joe Biden's presidency, some members of his Cabinet lacked confidence the president could be relied on to respond to a crisis in the middle of the night, CNN's Jake Tapper and Axios' Alex Thompson write in their new book, "Original Sin."
- CNN on Wednesday first reported that revelation from the book, which also describes how Biden's inner circle shielded him from several Cabinet members "for months" at a time in 2023 and 2024.
Why it matters: The authors' reporting shows that even as the White House was moving to assure the public and the media of Biden's fitness, top administration officials were worried about his decline in the final years of his presidency.
- The book is based on more than 200 interviews, mostly with Democratic insiders, almost all of which occurred after the 2024 election.
Driving the news: Several Cabinet secretaries told the authors that they frequently were boxed out from access to Biden in 2023 and 2024, when the 81-year-old president was running for re-election.
- One Cabinet secretary said Biden's top aides "shielded him in every meeting." From October 2023 on, "the Cabinet was kept at bay," the secretary said.
- "For months, we didn't have access to him. There was clearly a deliberate strategy by the White House to have him meet with as few people as necessary," the Cabinet secretary told the authors.
- "At one rare meeting during that time," the Cabinet secretary "was shocked by how the president was acting. He seemed 'disoriented' and 'out of it,' his mouth agape," according to the book.
- The secretary added that Biden's staff wanted to keep him happy and shielded him from bad news.
- "The staff did him wrong," the Cabinet member said. "If you were with him every day and you knew this was a problem, why didn't you go to him and say something?"
A second Cabinet secretary told the authors: "Access dropped off considerably in 2024, and I didn't interact with him as much."
- Instead of talking with Biden directly, the secretaries would speak with White House aides who then briefed Biden.
- The Cabinet member thought the process was odd and wondered if senior White House staff were filtering information to direct Biden's decisions.
- "Yes, the president is 'making the decisions,' but if the inner circle is shaping them in such a way, is it really a decision? Are they leading him to something?" the second Cabinet secretary recalled wondering.
Zoom out: "I don't think he has dementia," said a third Cabinet secretary. "But the thing is, he's an old man. The president can give you four to six good hours a day. When he got tired, sloppy isn't the right word, but his guard was down."
- The third Cabinet secretary said of Biden's inner circle: "It's hard for an adviser to be honest with the principal. If he had asked me, I would have told him, 'Do one term and you're done to preserve your legacy.' "
What they're saying: A Biden spokesperson who declined to be identified told CNN: "We continue to await anything that shows where Joe Biden had to make a presidential decision or where national security was threatened or where he was unable to do his job. In fact, the evidence points to the opposite — he was a very effective president."
- Biden and former First Lady Jill Biden appeared on ABC's "The View" last week to push back on the reports about Biden's decline.
- "The people who wrote those books were not in the White House with us, and they didn't see how hard Joe worked every single day," Jill Biden said. "He'd get up, he put in a full day, and then at night ... I'd be in bed, you know, reading my book, and he was still on the phone, reading his briefings, working with staff. I mean, it was nonstop."
