Jill Biden says she feared Joe Biden was having a stroke during his 2024 debate against Trump

Former first lady Jill Biden described watching her husband's June 2024 debate against Donald Trump as one of the most frightening moments of the campaign, saying in a CBS News interview she had never seen Joe Biden perform that way before or since. "I was frightened," she said in a clip released Wednesday. "Because I had never, ever seen Joe like that before or since."

The debate performance prompted widespread concern about the former president's age and fitness for office, and according to Politico, triggered an avalanche of calls from Democrats for Biden to step aside. He suspended his campaign less than a month later.

Jill Biden's current admission contrasts with her public posture at the time. Politico reported that at a post-debate campaign event, she told supporters her husband "did such a great job." CNN's coverage led with the emotional dimension of her current account — centering her word "terrified" and her fear of a stroke — while Politico's report placed the new remarks more squarely against the backdrop of broader Democratic criticism of how Biden's age and fitness were handled during the campaign.