Joe Biden’s former chief of staff is pushing back against how his remarks have been portrayed regarding the president’s performance during last year’s widely criticized debate against Donald Trump, clarifying to POLITICO that his criticism was directed at Biden’s top aides—not Biden himself.
“I think the framing is wrong,” Ron Klain wrote in a text message, responding to a Guardian report that described him as offering a “devastating picture” of Biden’s mental and physical condition in an interview for an upcoming book. “My point wasn’t that the president lacked mental acuity … He was out of it because he had been [sidelined], not because he lacked capacity.”
Klain, who served as Biden’s chief of staff for two years and later assisted with preparing the president for the June debate, faulted senior White House staff for failing to keep Biden engaged with domestic concerns, especially as public approval of his economic agenda weakened. That lapse, Klain believes, left Biden unprepared to articulate clear policies on inflation or present a compelling second-term plan during the debate.
“He had been isolated from domestic politics by a WH team unplugged from hill Dems,” Klain said in another text, explaining that the president had become “solely focused on foreign affairs” due to his administration’s involvement in two global conflicts at the time.
He did not name specific aides he felt were responsible for that lack of focus.
Klain’s remarks arrive as multiple new books centered on the 2024 race are set to reignite discussion around Biden’s mental state, his choice to pursue reelection, and the short-lived campaign that eventually gave way to Trump’s political comeback.
One such book is Uncharted: How Trump Beat Biden, Harris and the Odds in the Wildest Campaign in History by Chris Whipple, which includes an interview with Klain. According to The Guardian, Klain told Whipple that Biden “didn’t really understand what his argument was on inflation” and at one stage “he was just extremely exhausted.”
While overseeing the president’s debate preparation, Klain ended two mock sessions early because of Biden’s exhaustion and unfamiliarity with the material. As the debate with Trump approached, Whipple writes, Klain privately feared it would be “a nationally televised disaster.”
Biden’s performance during the debate — where he often mumbled, lost his train of thought, and struggled to outline key policies — sent shockwaves through the Democratic Party and triggered intense internal finger-pointing. Three weeks later, he ended his bid for a second term, handing the nomination to Vice President Kamala Harris with just over 100 days left before the election.
On Wednesday, The Guardian’s reporting on Klain’s quotes rapidly circulated among ex-Biden staffers. Some expressed frustration that Klain appeared to be voicing his misgivings only now, rather than before the debate.
“No hint there was a problem,” said one former official familiar with pre-debate conversations, who spoke anonymously.
Other former aides acknowledged the campaign’s misreading of voter sentiment and Biden’s popularity — but said Klain, too, bore responsibility for those errors.
“They never had grasp of the moment,” said another anonymous former staffer. “They thought people were in love with Biden.”
Whipple, in an interview, noted that Klain reiterated his belief that Biden was the right candidate and was capable of winning and governing effectively — a position Klain maintained even after the difficult debate. He reportedly told Whipple he still believed Biden should have remained in the race.
Nonetheless, Whipple said his reporting left him convinced that Klain was overly optimistic.
“Ron painted a really devastating portrait of Joe Biden at Camp David during that whole period of debate prep, and I’m not sure he realizes how devastating that portrait is,” Whipple remarked. “I do report in the book Ron’s unhappiness, disagreement with the way Joe Biden was being managed. But I would invite readers to pick up the book and read his account — not mine — of what Joe Biden was like at the debate prep.”
Klain, in his messages to POLITICO, did not argue with the quotes cited by The Guardian. However, he emphasized that his frustration stemmed from the way Biden’s inner circle allowed him to lose touch with key domestic priorities and Democratic lawmakers during a period of high international pressure.
Reflecting on his time in the White House, where he had spent two years cultivating congressional relationships before stepping down in 2023, Klain noted that the administration in its final year had become “unplugged from hill Dems and singularly obsessed with getting [Republican] support for Ukraine.”
After the debate, Klain called a prominent Democratic lawmaker to try to rally her behind Biden’s campaign. Her reply underscored the disconnect: “I haven’t heard from the president in a year.”
{Matzav.com}