‘Who knows?’: Jill Biden responds to theory Joe Biden was drugged before debate

Everyone remembers that disastrous presidential debate then President Biden had against Donald Trump in 2024. It was so jarring that it ultimately helped end his reelection campaign. And now, nearly two years later, former first lady Jill Biden is once again talking about what happened that night — including whether her husband could have been drugged.

She made the comments during an appearance on “The Jamie Kern Lima Show.” Asked if he was “having a stroke or — uh, uh, was he drugged? Were there any steps taken after to rule out?” Jill Biden answered, “Oh, yeah. Either.”

“I mean, Joe and I both had a team of doctors around both of us at all times, and he had a team, I had a team. … And yeah, they checked him out. I mean, once we got off the stage, I went to the green room to get my, my pocketbook and all that stuff, and he went to his staff and the docs and, um, and they said, ‘Jill, he’s fine. He’s OK.’”

So here’s where I think we need to separate what we know from what we still don’t know.

We know Joe Biden had an extraordinarily poor debate performance. We know Jill Biden says she immediately noticed that he did not seem like himself. And we know his doctors examined him afterward, according to her, and told her he was OK.

What we do not have is evidence that Joe Biden was drugged. But when asked about the possibility that someone could have put something in his drink , she said, “Who knows? Who knows?”

And that’s the problem with continuing to elevate that possibility: “Who knows?” is not evidence.

In her memoir, “View from the East Wing,” Jill Biden herself describes the fear and confusion she felt watching the debate. She wrote that she wondered, “Is this a stroke?” and even asked herself, “Has he been drugged?” She has said she still doesn’t know what happened that night.

Joe Biden was 81 years old. The debate intensified already existing concerns about his age and ability to serve another four years. He ultimately ended his reelection campaign less than a month later.

The Democratic Party has to be honest. There have been serious questions about whether Biden’s age and health were adequately confronted inside his political circle. The 2025 book “Original Sin,” by Jake Tapper and Alex Thompson, argued that Biden’s inner circle shielded him from difficult information and that concerns about his decline were minimized. The first lady is depicted as a central figure in hiding that from public view.

So I don’t think the lesson here is that Jill Biden should never talk about her husband’s presidency. She absolutely has a right to tell her story. But you cannot rewrite history, no matter how many times you try.

And nearly two years later, the Democratic Party still has to reckon with the consequences of that debate — not because Trump needs another villain, and not because Joe Biden needs another defense, but because voters deserve political leaders who can acknowledge what went wrong without searching for a mystery explanation that has never been substantiated.

Joe Biden is now battling stage 4 prostate cancer that has spread to his bones , according to his son. Jill Biden has spoken publicly about the toll that diagnosis has taken on their family and about trying to make the most of the time they have together. One way to help both Biden’s legacy and Democrats’ future chances is to stop pretending and stop relitigating the past. At that point, the party may learn from it and finally be able to move forward.

Lindsey Granger is a NewsNation contributor and co-host of The Hill’s commentary show “Rising.” This column is an edited transcription of her on-air commentary.