‘Internal discussions' involved putting Biden in wheelchair if reelected, new book claims

Yahoo

13-05-2025

A new book chronicling former President Joe Biden's fateful decision to seek reelection claims that White House aides considered the possibility he would need to use a wheelchair if elected to a second term.
According to the book, 'Original Sin: President Biden's Decline, Its Cover-Up, and His Disastrous Choice to Run Again,' by CNN anchor Jake Tapper and Axios reporter Alex Thompson, Biden staffers were concerned about the president's physical health as he campaigned for reelection at age 81, but felt it would be 'politically untenable' for him to use a wheelchair during the campaign.
They believed his physical condition would increasingly suffer if he served four more years in power.
'Biden's physical deterioration — most apparent in his halting walk — had become so severe that there were internal discussions about putting the president in a wheelchair,' the authors write, according to excerpts published Tuesday by Thompson in Axios.
The book, set to be released on May 20, is based on interviews with more than 200 people, mostly influential members of the Democratic Party, who witnessed the final two years of the Biden presidency, according to Axios.
Almost all the interviews took place after the 2024 election, looking back on Biden's decision to drop out of the race over the summer and endorse then-Vice President Kamala Harris as his replacement, only for her to lose to Trump in November.
According to the book, Biden staffers increasingly feared the president would have a bad fall after he tripped over a sandbag at the Air Force Academy in June 2023. They took measures to prevent a repeat before the election, including 'insisting on handrails for steps up to the stage at his appearances.'
'Given Biden's age, [his physician Kevin O'Connor] also privately said that if he had another bad fall, a wheelchair might be necessary for what could be a difficult recovery,' the authors wrote.
In a statement to Axios, Biden's camp pushed back on the reporting.
Medical exams of the president 'made clear that he had a stiffened gait caused, in part, by wear and tear to his spine — but that no special treatment was necessary and that it had not worsened," a spokesperson told the news outlet.
'He was transparent about this, and it was far from 'severe,'' the person said. 'Yes, there were physical changes as he got older, but evidence of aging is not evidence of mental incapacity.'
'And so far, we are still waiting for someone, anyone, to point out where Joe Biden had to make a presidential decision or make a presidential address where he was unable to do his job because of mental decline,' they continued. 'In fact, the evidence points to the opposite — he was a very effective president."
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