PoliticsJill Biden Says She 'Doesn't Have an Explanation' for Joe Biden's 'Surreal' Debate Performance: 'Was He Drugged?'
Jill Biden recently reflected on Joe Biden's 2024 debate against Donald Trump.
Sept. 2 2026, Published 5:13 p.m. ET
Jill Biden shared her thoughts on husband Joe's contentious 2024 debate performance in a new interview with Modern Family star Jesse Tyler Ferguson.
The former first lady, 75, appeared on the Tuesday, September 1, episode of Jesse's podcast "Dinner's on Me," where she got candid about Joe's behavior while up against Donald Trump.
Jill Biden got candid about her husband's demeanor on a new episode of Jesse Tyler Ferguson's podcast.
"That moment, I can't explain it. I thought about it. I've thought about it so much and at that moment — I wrote this in the book — that I thought Joe was having a stroke," Jill said about the jaw-dropping incident, while also referencing her recent memoir, View From the East Wing.
Doctors Checked Out Joe Biden Shortly After the Debate
Jill Biden opened up to Jesse Tyler Ferguson about how Joe Biden's performance felt 'surreal.'
"Then when he got off stage and he was checked out by the doctors, and the docs said he's fine, and then we went on that night to do three different events," Jill recalled.
"Three events. And here we get on Air Force One for our last event. We fly to North Carolina, get off the plane at 3:00 in the morning full band playing, lights, hundreds of people. We're walking on the tarmac shaking hands. A week or 10 days later, he's at the NATO conference," the educator explained.
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Jill Biden recalled not being with Joe Biden during the 2024 debate.
Jill revealed it felt "surreal" to "think back" on the debate, as she's still wondering what really went down.
"Like, what happened? What happened? And I can't explain it, and I know Joe had been traveling," she sighed. "I know he was at debate camp. I was out on the trail, so I wasn't with him at all before the debate. I was campaigning."
Jill Biden Doesn't Think She'll Ever Know What Happened During the Speech
'To this day, I don't have an explanation,' the former first lady said of Joe Biden's conduct during the debate.
"To this day, I don't have an explanation," Jill said. "20 years from now, when I'm a crispy critter, historians are still gonna be like, 'What happened? Was it he was drugged? Was it a medical emergency?' I don't think we'll ever know."
After Joe, 83, squared off with Donald, 80, ahead of the 2024 election, the public saw the ex-president's performance as disastrous for his re-election campaign.
Joe Biden Dropped Out of the 2024 Election
Joe Biden is currently battling cancer.
Concerns were raised about Joe's health and age at the time, with others questioning if he was capable of serving a second term. A month after the debate, Joe dropped out of the presidential race and Kamala Harris took his place.
In her memoir, Jill said she believes the former Delaware senator could have been drugged or was experiencing a medical episode.
