First lady Jill Biden’s political rise coincided with the end of her husband’s political career, according to a new book about how President Joe Biden lost the White House.
One year after Biden’s consequential debate performance, the first octogenarian president’s age has inspired congressional investigations and books detailing his alleged cognitive decline.
‘2024: How Trump Retook the White House and the Democrats Lost America,’ is the latest to tackle the inner workings of the Biden administration.
The book, released Tuesday by journalists Josh Dawsey of The Wall Street Journal, Tyler Pager of The New York Times and Isaac Arnsdor of The Washington Post, details the influential role Jill Biden played in her husband’s administration.
As Jill Biden gained political influence, so did Anthony Bernal, the first lady’s chief of staff and senior advisor and an assistant to the president.
He was subpoenaed to testify on July 16 after refusing to appear before the committee investigating the alleged cover-up of Biden’s mental decline, which argued that executive privilege did not apply to him.
According to the book, Bernal accused Anita Dunn, a veteran Democratic political strategist who served in the Biden and Obama administrations, of being disloyal for pushing for more transparency about the Biden family.
There was a ‘near-total ban’ on discussing Hunter Biden, the journalists wrote in their new book, as Hunter’s federal trial fell in the middle of his father’s re-election campaign in June 2024.
Jill Biden, with Bernal by her side, went to great lengths to attend Hunter Biden’s federal trial, often traveling long distances from overseas trips or campaign events.
She attended the first three days of the trial, flew to France to join the president at the D-Day commemoration and then returned to Wilmington less than 24 hours later for the fifth day of the trial.
As described in ‘2024,’ West Wing staffers were surprised when Jill Biden arrived at the trial. Most senior aides had no idea the first lady planned to attend, revealing her willingness to act independently.
But while Jill Biden demonstrated her independence from the White House, Bernal was right there with her leading the East Wing.
‘He quickly bonded with Jill Biden and never left her side, becoming unflinchingly loyal to her and using his proximity to her to exert power wherever he decided. It was often unclear if the opinion he was expressing was his own or the first lady’s. Sometimes, when donors or voters asked her questions, Bernal would jump in to answer,’ the authors said.
Just as Jill jumped to Hunter’s defense during his high-profile trial, she became the president’s staunchest supporter following his disastrous debate performance against President Donald Trump.
‘Joe isn’t just the right person for the job,’ the first lady said at a fundraiser soon after the debate. ‘He’s the only person for the job.’
The book alleges that Jill Biden had always played the ‘role of the protective spouse, encouraging the president to eat vegetables, keeping him on time, and questioning staffers when she felt they erred.’
In one such case in January 2022, a Biden aide apologized to the first lady when she questioned why they allowed a press conference to go on for too long, according to the book.
As Biden struggled to successfully defend his debate performance, with donors and Democratic politicians growing weary, and ‘her husband in the fight of his political life, Jill was making clear: The Democratic Party had to stick with Joe,’ the authors said.
After the debate, the Bidens took a pre-planned family trip to Camp David.
‘The president was not entertaining the idea of dropping out of the race; he was taking stock of how bad things really were,’ the authors said of Biden’s trip to Camp David.
The authors described how dropping out ‘was not even a consideration’ at Camp David, and how the first lady was part of those in the inner family circle who persuaded Biden to stay in the race, despite mounting pressure from party leaders and donors to step down.
Biden huddled with his family in Camp David during the last few days of June, then appeared for debate damage-control interviews on network TV in the weeks following, referring to the debate as a bad night and blaming a cold for his off-night.
‘Biden also acknowledged he needed more sleep and said he told his staff that he should not participate in events that start after 8 p.m. But his message was clear: He was staying in the race,’ the authors said.
Less than a month after the debate, and one week after an assassination attempt on Trump, Biden announced he was suspending his re-election campaign, and later endorsed Vice President Kamala Harris as the Democratic nominee.
Fox News Digital has written extensively dating back to the 2020 presidential campaign about Biden’s cognitive decline and his inner circle’s alleged role in covering it up.
A Biden spokesperson did not immediately respond to Fox News Digital’s request for comment.
