Bill Clinton Whiffs On Obvious Biden Decline: ‘I Thought He Was In Good Shape’

Bill Clinton denied that he witnessed evidence of a cognitive or physical decline in his fellow former president, Joe Biden, after new details emerged about efforts by the White House to keep the matter under wraps.

In an interview with “CBS Sunday Morning,” correspondent Tracy Smith brought up “Original Sin: President Biden’s Decline, Its Cover-Up, and His Disastrous Choice to Run Again,” a recently-published book by CNN’s Jake Tapper and Axios reporter Alex Thompson.

The book “talks about Joe Biden and the people around him seeing that he had cognitive and physical decline. Did you ever have a moment with him where you thought maybe he was unfit to run for president?” Smith asked.

“No,” the 78-year-old Clinton said. “I thought he was a good president. The only concern I thought he had to deal with was, could anybody do that job until they were 86?” Clinton said. “And we did several long talks. I had never seen him and walked away thinking, He can’t do this anymore. He was always on top of his briefs.”

Bill Clinton says he never saw anything to point to Biden being in cognitive decline. He thought Biden was in perfect shape and sharp as a tack.

If only there were signs… pic.twitter.com/LVSUfDCphg

— Libs of TikTok (@libsoftiktok) June 1, 2025

Biden embarked on a campaign for re-election, but dropped out under pressure from allies concerned about his mental capacity, age, and electability following a fumbling debate performance against now-President Trump — who ended up winning a second term in a match-up against Vice President Kamala Harris in the 2024 election.

Pressed again, Clinton added, “No. So, I didn’t know anything about any of this. And I haven’t read the book. And I saw President Biden not very long ago, and I thought he was in good shape. But the book didn’t register with me ’cause I never saw him that way.”

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Clinton said he “didn’t want to” read the book because Biden is “not president anymore, and I think he did a good job. And I think we are facing challenges today without precedent in our history. And some people are trying to use this as a way to blame him for the fact that Trump was re-elected.”

Republicans in Congress are now looking into any efforts to cover up Biden’s condition during his single term as president. House Oversight Chairman James Comer (R-KY) has demanded testimony from Biden’s doctor and former White House aides. It was recently disclosed that Biden is fighting an “aggressive form” of prostate cancer, raising questions about the timing of the announcement.

Biden issued a defiant response when confronted about the controversy over his mental and physical health while in office. “You can see that I’m mentally incompetent and I can’t walk, and I can beat the hell out of both of them,” he said, apparently referencing Tapper and Thompson.