Reports claim insiders concealed Biden health issues during 2024 campaign

Recent revelations suggest that former President Joe Biden's campaign might have been less candid about his health than previously portrayed.

According to Fox News, Reports indicate that Biden’s aides allegedly had prior knowledge of his cognitive and physical decline even as they publicly denied such issues during his 2024 re-election campaign.

Allegations have surfaced indicating that insiders within Biden’s circle were aware of his declining health as early as before his re-election bid in 2024. Despite this, Biden continued his campaign until July of that year, when he ultimately withdrew from the race. At the time, official statements from those close to him, including former White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre, firmly denied any notion of concealment regarding his well-being.

Biden's Withdrawal Sparks Inquiries

In a press briefing shortly after Biden's withdrawal, Karine Jean-Pierre refuted claims of a cover-up involving the president’s health. At the briefing, she engaged in a contentious exchange with Fox News reporter Peter Doocy, where she clearly stated, “First of all, there’s been no cover-up,” emphasizing the official stance that the administration had nothing to hide.

However, as detailed in the new book "Original Sin," by Axios reporter Alex Thompson and CNN anchor Jake Tapper, internal discussions painted a different picture. According to the authors, members of Biden’s inner circle were, in fact, aware of his health concerns but chose to shield this information from the public view.

An unnamed Biden insider admitted to Thompson that there had been strategic cover-ups. The insider reportedly confessed, “Yes, we deserve blame for X, Y, Z. We were hiding [Biden].” This assertion reflects a calculated effort to manage how Biden's cognitive condition was perceived by the electorate and the media.

Book Claims Highlight Media Complicity

The book further explores how the campaign might have taken measures to control the narrative around Biden’s health. It claims that Biden’s core team succeeded in curtailing media scrutiny on his age and vigor, often through direct actions against journalists tasked with covering the story. Thompson and Tapper explain that some White House officials, such as spokesperson Andrew Bates, were allegedly kept in the dark about the president’s health condition. In their book, they note that "[Bates], along with most of the press team, rarely met with the president and didn’t have firsthand knowledge of the president’s wherewithal."

This pattern of obfuscation extended beyond internal communications to the administration’s relationship with the press. The book suggests that any reporters who dared to question the state of Biden's health faced retaliatory measures, thereby reducing the scope and frequency of such inquiries. An insider acknowledged that this relationship was somewhat mutually beneficial, saying, “Listen, the media deserves some blame too. Like we were sort of amazed at some of the stuff we were able to spin.”

Thompson and Tapper's investigation reveals that even senior campaign staff were often left to piece together the reality of Biden's health from what little they were told, relying on secondhand reports rather than firsthand observations.

Crisis Deepens with New Health Concerns

Concerns about Biden’s health have not dissipated since he retired from political life. In the period following his withdrawal from the race, Biden was diagnosed with advanced prostate cancer, raising further questions about when these health issues began to surface.

In addition to health worries, legal documents released by the U.S. Department of Justice provided more fuel for speculation. Audio recordings from a 2024 interview between Biden and Special Counsel Robert Hur reportedly capture moments that question his cognitive capacity during this critical phase.

Fox News Digital attempted to reach out for comments from Karine Jean-Pierre and other representatives of Biden, but such attempts went unanswered, leaving the public with more questions than answers about the extent of the knowledge held by his inner circle about his health and the subsequent handling of the situation.