A new book from Jake Tapper and Alex Thompson of CNN will show that former President Joe Biden, his family and senior aides allegedly “lied to themselves, allies, and the public about his condition and limitations,” according to a Penguin Random House press release.
Original Sin: President Biden's Decline, Its Cover-Up, and His Disastrous Choice to Run Again is scheduled for release on May 20.
Biden, 82, dropped out of the 2024 presidential race after the primary season, in late July. During the Democratic National Convention the following month, former Vice President Kamala Harris, 60, was selected as the new candidate. She went on to run the shortest presidential campaign in history, losing to current Republican President Donald Trump, 78, in November.
Even before Biden dropped out of the race, there were concerns about his age. He was 78 years and 61 days old at the start of his presidency in 2021 – the oldest president elected to the office at the time. If Biden had won the 2024 election, he would have beaten his own record at age 81. Instead, Trump beat Biden’s old record by 159 days.
Audacy reported last February on a poll that found 86% of Americans believed Biden was too old to serve another four-year term at age 81. In a campaign advertisement released the next month, Biden argued that his age was an asset.
By the time the first presidential debate rolled around in June, Biden’s performance was described as “disastrous,” and there were reports that leaders within the Democratic party were urging him to leave the race.
“At his debate with Trump on June 27, 2024, the consequences of… deception were exposed to the world. It was shocking and upsetting,” said the Penguin press release for Original Sin. It explained that, in the book, Tapper and Thompson will lay out “the full, unsettling truth,” of what happened within Biden’s campaign for the first time.
This exploration includes information from White House staffers, leaders of Congress and Biden’s Cabinet, governors, donors and more. Although Biden said before the 2024 election that he would only serve for one term, the authors said that he decided to deny the existence of health issues and pushed to run again.
Before he dropped out of the race over the summer, Audacy reported on a call Biden had with Democratic governors where he told them that he needed more sleep and that he would stop attending meetings after 8 p.m. (such as the 9 p.m. debate with Trump). However, it would be weeks before Biden would drop out of the race.
After he dropped out, fresh concerns about Biden’s health were sparked due to his appearance during a historic prisoner swap in September, Audacy reported. That month, a report from the Republican National Committee also claimed that Biden took a number of vacation days it would take the average American 48 years to accrue during his presidency. In October, a report indicated that Biden had limited calls from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. during his final days in the White House.
Although the former president said publicly in September that endorsing Harris’ campaign was the “single best” decision of his presidency, Biden said this January that he still thinks he could have beaten Trump. At the same time, Democrats were quick to blame the former president and the way he handled the 2024 campaign for Trump’s eventual victory in November.
Per its description, it seems that Tapper and Thompson’s new book will back up that theory.
“What you will learn makes President Biden’s decision to run for reelection seem shockingly narcissistic, self-delusional, and reckless – a desperate bet that went bust – and part of a larger act of extended public deception that has few precedents,” said the Penguin press release. “The story the authors tell raises fundamental issues of accountability and responsibility that will continue for decades.”