PoliticsJill Biden Accused of 'Elder Abuse' as Husband Joe Faces Cancer Diagnosis: 'She Wasn't Protecting Him'
The former president was diagnosed with prostate cancer on May 16.
May 22 2025, Published 12:25 p.m. ET
Former First Lady Jill Biden has been scrutinized for aiding in the alleged mistreatment of her husband, Joe Biden, who was diagnosed with prostate cancer on Friday, May 16.
According to journalist Sally Quinn, widow of Washington Post editor Ben Bradlee, Jill should never have influenced her husband to run for president in the 2024 election.
“I thought it was just elder abuse, really,” she said on the “Tara Palmeri Show” on Wednesday, May 21.
Jill Biden Wasn't 'Protecting' Her Husband Joe
The journalist said she 'felt sorry' for the former president when she realized his wife wasn't 'protecting him.'
“I felt sorry for Joe Biden because I didn’t think she was protecting him,” Sally noted. “She wasn’t protecting him from himself.”
Sally suggested that Joe’s debate against Donald Trump should have been an eye-opener for Jill, who was still pushing for her husband to win a second term after its atrocity.
“And after that hideous debate, right after the debate, they’re in the spin room, and she’s got his hand up, and they’re going, ‘Victory, victory, we won, we won. It was great, great.’ The next day, he’s up in North Carolina and making a victory speech,” Sally elaborated. “I thought, what were they watching?”
Joe Biden 'Unpatriotic' for Running in 2024 Election
The journalist blamed Jill Biden for allowing her husband to run for president despite his health complications.
Though Sally placed most of the blame on the former first lady for allowing Joe to run for president while he was experiencing health complications, the journalist felt Joe should have withdrawn himself from the election.
“It was just, I think, unpatriotic of him to run and unpatriotic of his staff to insist that he run [and] to support it,” she said.
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Sally Quinn Calls Joe Biden 'Egotistical'
Sally Quinn saw parallels in her husband's and Joe Biden's declining health.
“I think everybody was horrified that he was put in a position where he was allowed to run by the staff and by his wife,” Sally explained. “And people felt sorry for him, but it was still his egotistical decision to stay in office, and look what happened.”
During the talk show interview, the journalist reflected on the death of her husband, who showed the same signs of dementia as Joe right before his passing in 2014 at the age of 93.
As a popular socialite who often throws parties for celebrities and political figures, Sally said that unlike Jill, she knew when to pull the curtains due to her husband’s deteriorating health.
The former president's cancer has spread to his bones.
“I would see him, he’d be making a speech, and he’d forget where he was, and he would stumble,” she said of her late husband.
“And I finally just said, 'No more speeches,’” the journalist shared. “I told everybody in his office, ‘No more speeches, no more public appearances. That’s not happening.’ I just wanted to protect him from himself, to protect his dignity.”
