ESPN Star Trashes 'Dishonest' Jill Biden for Covering Up Joe Biden's Health Woes: 'It Really Disturbed Me'

Sportscaster Stephen A. Smith publicly criticized former First Lady Jill Biden for what he described as "gaslighting" the American public.

His comments followed her recent admission that she feared then-President Joe Biden was suffering a stroke during his June 2024 debate performance.

In an interview promoting her memoir, View From the East Wing, Jill revealed she panicked during the fumbling 2024 debate with then-candidate Donald Trump. She recalled thinking, "Oh my God, he’s having a stroke," noting it "scared [her] to death.”

Critics immediately pointed out that despite her private fears of a severe medical emergency, the 74-year-old former FLOTUS praised her husband immediately after the debate.

At a post-debate campaign stop, she famously told him, "Joe, you did such a great job. You answered every question, you knew all the facts.”

Appearing on former New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo's WABC radio show, "Pulse of the People," Stephen expressed sharp frustration with how the situation was handled.

Stephen explicitly stated the cover-up "really, really disturbed me, and it really bothered me.”

“[A]t that time, his wife comes out, and she applauds his effort, and she said he was wonderful, and he answered all the questions and all of this other stuff,” he recalled.

Stephen blamed both Jill and the Democratic Party leadership for eroding public trust. He argued that trying to mask the former president's clearly ailing mental state severely damaged the party's institutional credibility.

Jill’s praising of the ex-POTUS' abysmal debate was, Stephen said, “dishonest, not forthcoming, not open, and always trying to find a way to manipulate and dictate a narrative.”

He noted that while he has strong disagreements with the president, the Democratic Party lost its footing by focusing on the wrong strategies and failing to be honest with voters.

“They had an opportunity to push him out and to position themselves to have a primary where a viable candidate to go up against Donald Trump would have been, would have, would have happened the right way,” the politically charged ESPN commentator argued.

“I’m not trying to say that Kamala Harris was the wrong candidate,” he said of Joe’s vice president-turned-Democratic nominee. “What I am trying to say, however, is the process that she had to endure was wrong because by bypassing a primary and ultimately being inserted as the Democratic nominee."

The disgraced former NY governor agreed with Stephen’s assessment, saying, “I think it cost us a great amount of credibility, especially the Democratic Party, which is supposed to be the party of truth and courage.”

The excerpt from the memoir has drawn widespread attention across the political landscape.

Several political commentators and party insiders expressed frustration with the "revisionist history," noting the administration spent weeks downplaying the 46th president's debate performance before he ultimately dropped out of the race.

A source close to the former First Lady defended the book, stating she was trying to be transparent and "dig deep" to answer the public's lingering questions regarding the chaotic 2024 cycle.