He’s an Old Man’: Cabinet Secretaries Describe Biden’s Fading Capacity
A forthcoming book by CNN’s Jake Tapper and Axios journalist Alex Thompson paints a sobering picture of former President Joe Biden’s final year in office, raising serious questions about his cognitive capacity and the role of his inner circle in shielding him from public scrutiny and even his own Cabinet.
In “Original Sin: President Biden’s Decline, Its Cover-Up, and His Disastrous Choice to Run Again,” set to release on May 20, the authors reveal that multiple Cabinet secretaries privately doubted the president’s ability to function in a national emergency, particularly during off-hours like 2 a.m., due to his deteriorating physical and mental condition in 2023 and 2024.
“Yes, the president is ‘making the decisions,’ but if the inner circle is shaping them in such a way, is it really a decision?” one Cabinet secretary asked. “Are they leading him to something?”
Inner Circle Tightens, Cabinet Kept at Bay
Several top officials said they were cut off from direct access to Biden in his final year, with information increasingly filtered through senior aides. One Cabinet secretary said that by 2024, briefings were no longer held with the president himself but instead routed through close staffers, who then relayed selective updates to Biden.
“There was clearly a deliberate strategy by the White House to have him meet with as few people as necessary,” another official noted.
In a particularly jarring anecdote, a Cabinet member recalled attending a rare meeting where Biden appeared visibly disoriented, with his mouth agape and a vacant expression. Others described the president as capable of only four to six good hours per day, after which his performance would noticeably diminish.
Despite the concerns, few were willing—or permitted—to confront Biden directly.
“The staff did him wrong,” one Cabinet member stated. “If you were with him every day and you knew this was a problem, why didn’t you go to him and say something?”
Signs Ignored During 2024 Re-Election Bid
The book also describes how Biden’s inner circle, family, and campaign team pushed forward with his 2024 re-election bid even as signs of cognitive decline became difficult to ignore. Tapper and Thompson claim that White House aides discussed the possibility of needing a wheelchair for Biden in a potential second term, and recount an incident in which Biden failed to recognize actor George Clooney at a fundraiser in June 2024.
The revelations are based on over 200 interviews, many with Democratic insiders, conducted after Biden exited the 2024 race in July following a disastrous performance in a live debate.
Despite the accusations, a spokesman for Biden pushed back on the book’s claims:
“We continue to await anything that shows where Joe Biden had to make a presidential decision or where national security was threatened or where he was unable to do his job. In fact, the evidence points to the opposite—he was a very effective president.”
Yet the picture painted by Tapper and Thompson is of a president increasingly insulated, protected, and at times, unaware of the full scope of concerns surrounding him—even those involving his own leadership.
Legacy at Risk?
One Cabinet official told the authors he wished Biden had bowed out after one term, saying:
“If he had asked me, I would have told him, ‘Do one term and you’re done to preserve your legacy.’”
As the Biden presidency recedes into history, “Original Sin” may fuel ongoing debate about presidential fitness, staff loyalty, and how power is managed behind the closed doors of the White House.
The book releases nationwide on May 20.