JUNE 22, 2026
Former Democratic fundraiser says new book will name party figures who privately doubted Biden's fitness while defending him publicly
Lindy Li, a former Democratic fundraiser who later switched party affiliation, told Fox News Digital she is publishing a book titled "Unburdened" later this year. In the book, she says she will identify Democratic figures who privately expressed concerns about President Biden's cognitive decline while publicly defending him during the 2024 election cycle. Li said she also possesses internal polling data that has not been previously published.
Lindy Li, a former Democratic fundraiser and party insider, said in a phone interview with Fox News Digital that her forthcoming book will reveal which Democratic officials knew about Biden's cognitive decline but did not speak out. Li said she was connected with a wide range of party figures through her fundraising work and witnessed internal discussions about Biden's fitness that did not match the party's public posture.
Among the figures Li named was Sen. Adam Schiff of California. Li said she received a text from Schiff in which he privately expressed a desire for Biden to step aside, even as Schiff maintained public support for the president for a period. A spokesperson for Schiff responded that the senator's concerns were made public after the June 2024 presidential debate, when Biden stumbled over his words and spoke in a whispery voice, and that Schiff formally called for Biden to step aside that July. "The Senator's concerns and call on President Biden to not run was very public, so none of this is news," the spokesperson said.
Li described a broader climate of fear inside the party that discouraged prominent Democrats from breaking with Biden earlier. She said internal research showed that no potential challenger had the standing to defeat Biden in a primary. "There are many candidates who polled themselves against Biden and then realized that they couldn't beat him in a primary," Li told Fox News Digital, characterizing the reluctance as a matter of self-interest rather than ideological conviction.