The Most Interesting Moments from the CBS-Jill Biden Interview

Jorge Bonilla
May 31st, 2026 9:12 PM

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After much hype centered around her handling of questions about President Joe Biden’s cognitive decline, CBS Sunday Morning aired its interview with former First Lady Jill Biden. This was a bifurcated airing, with part running over the air and another online. Here are some if its interesting moments.

Here’s Jill Biden discussing her role as First Lady. A more inquisitive interviewer would’ve brought up the comparisons to Edith Wilson, given President Biden’s obvious decline. No such followup here.

RITA BRAVER: You also say, um. You have been accused of either having been too involved in your husband's presidency or too hands off. Why?

JILL BIDEN: Well, I think, uh, toward the end, I think people, uh, pushed me to take more of a role to, um, get Joe to step down. But Rita, it was always Joe's decision. I mean, he had to make those decisions. He had to make the decision to run or not to run, um, so, but people thought, well, you need to say this or you need to say that, no. You know, Joe, Joe and I discussed probably everything, but in the end, on those matters, he was the one to make the decision.

BRAVER: Um, so what did you see as your role in the administration?

BIDEN: Uh, oh, my role. Oh my gosh. I guess my role was um- I saw myself really as the American woman in that I was working full time. I'm the first-First Lady to have a, a paying job outside The White House… 

BRAVER: Outside the White House,.

BIDEN: …and I taught, uh, English at a community college and, um, which I loved, and then I had my role as First Lady, so, uh, I guess it was just trying to, I don't know, balance it all.

The conversation would shift to the downturn Biden’s approval within months of his taking office. The big catalyst for this was the disastrous withdrawal from Afghanistan. The Real Clear Polling average had Biden at 50% until about two weeks before the ISIS-K terror attack at Hamid Karzai International Airport. Jill Biden blames the downturn on a lack of civility.

RITA BRAVER: You talked about many of your husband's successes, the Build Back Better, um, passing the first, uh, major gun legislation in 30 years. Um, you also say “when Joe and I moved into the White House in January 2021, it felt as if though we had the wind at our back, and then within a few months the wind shifted.” There were lots of things that happened in that time. There was Afghanistan, Russia's invasion of Ukraine, and why do you think it shifted?

JILL BIDEN: Because of the reasons you just named.

BRAVER: Also, was there a shift in Congress, do you think?

BIDEN: Oh my gosh, yes, I mean we had, you know, a Republican Congress and um, well, it was, let's just say- when Joe started in politics, all during his Senate years and even some into the vice presidency, Republicans and Democrats respected one another. You know, yes, they had differences of opinion, but they never let it get personal. There were never personal attacks on one another, and I think that's a big change of, you know, what we see today where it's so personal and so mean and vindictive a lot of times and- and why is that necessary? I- I didn't grow up like that. Joe didn't grow up like that, um. You know, these are the people we elected, and I think um there has to be more civility.

The interview was little more than book promotion fluff, and it shows here. One immediately recalls the slew of Biden speeches wherein he declared half the country to be enemies of Democracy™, and the civility take merited such a follow-up.

Next, Jill Biden claims she had to walk out of the room as Vice President Kamala Harris pressed Joe to give her his endorsement after dropping out of the 2024 presidential race.

RITA BRAVER: So he decided that it was- he was going to drop out. 

JILL BIDEN: That’s right. 

BRAVER: It was Sunday, July 21st, 2024. Before your husband made the announcement. he called Vice President Harris to tell her what he had decided, and you said almost as soon as he gave her the news, she demanded that he endorse her right away, and he- he, I mean, did you think something was off about that?

BIDEN: You know, I'm sure she thought about it. You know it wasn't like a call out of the blue. I'm sure with everything happening at that time it had to cross her mind so I think, um, I think that's what-

BRAVER: When you said it was back and forth because she wanted him, um, to endorse her at the same time he announced that he was dropping out and he wanted to just make the announcement of the dropout first, right?

BIDEN: Oh yeah, sure.

BRAVER: And you said you even walked out of the room because it was- got too tense maybe?

BIDEN: Well, it was just, I'm telling you, it was so hard. I mean this is what Joe had worked for all his life. He loved being a statesman. Um, he loved the job of helping the American people and to give it up. I mean Rita, he did it for over 50 years of his life. That's a long time. And so at some point when all of this is going on. It gets a little overwhelming, and yes, I had to walk out.

Moving to the broadcast portion, it began with a question on the change of pace going from Washington to Wilmington, and Dr. Jill claiming White House medical team missed President Biden’s cancer diagnosis.

RITA BRAVER: So is it a big change? You were in The White House and you are living kind of a quiet life in Delaware?

JILL BIDEN: Well, it's not exactly a quiet life. I mean, we are still doing a lot of things, writing, traveling, speaking. But then we come home and this is our peaceful place, let's put it that way.

BRAVER: But there has not been a lot of peace for the Bidens. 

Just four months after leaving office, President Biden was diagnosed with an aggressive form of stage four prostate cancer that had traveled to his bones.

BIDEN: Yes.

BRAVER: How is the president doing now?

BIDEN: He is doing well. But it was a shock. I mean, Rita, honestly, I can remember getting the diagnosis, and it was just, it was shocking.

BRAVER: Do you think that someone, when he was in The White House, should have discovered it, given him a test?

BIDEN: Well, you know, the doctors said that according to the American Urological Association, that men over 70 don't need a PSA, a blood blood test anymore because it's a slow-growing cancer. I have to say, Rita, I do feel we had amazing care in The White House, but somehow that was missed.

BRAVER: So you're a little bit tense when it comes to his health, huh?

BIDEN: I don’t know if the word is “tense”, but I’m vigilant.

Next, comes the cognitive decline portion of the interview. Watch as Braver takes her first two passes at the question:

RITA BRAVER: But there is another essential question that many Americans have about President Biden's mental health when he was in The White House. 

Did you ever see signs that he was falling into cognitive decline?

JILL BIDEN: No.

BRAVER: No. 

BIDEN: No. 

BRAVER: Truly.

BIDEN: No.

BRAVER: I mean, I have spoken to many people who saw the president, especially during the last two years of his term, and they said they thought he was slipping.

BIDEN: Oh, he was definitely aging. I mean, we are all aging, Rita. I mean, so, yes, he was slowing down.

BRAVER: I mean, people were saying he wasn't the same Joe Biden.

BIDEN: Well, I don't think that's true. He was the same -- the essence of the same Joe Biden, but, yeah, he was slowing down. He was getting older. I mean, we all observe that. When, you know, it's a very intense job. I think it ages you quickly. Look at the other presidents. I mean, look in comparison when they started in office and got out of office, and it was natural aging.

BRAVER: From the start of the administration even, some polls were showing that many Americans were questioning the president's mental fitness. I asked you about it when I interviewed you, and you said there’s nothing to it.

BIDEN: And I still say that.

That’s four denials and two deflections. And then, more denials not aired on TV:

RITA BRAVER: Um, I wanna ask you this one more time because I just want to get the sense. I, I, as I said, I think this is the essential question that people are going to want to know from you is- Have you ever seen signs of mental decline in your husband? Mental decline, not physical. Mental.

JILL BIDEN: No. No. I mean I've seen aging. I've seen him slow down like I said, but no.

Watch as Biden mourns the construction of the White House Ballroom, and works it into a plug for the book she is currently promoting:

RITA BRAVER: Now, Dr. Jill Biden has written a book about her time in The White house. It's called "View from the East Wing," a place where generations of First Ladies had their offices and where visitors came for White House tours. It has now been destroyed by President Donald Trump to make way for a ballroom. 

So what do you think about that?

JILL BIDEN: What do you think I think?

BRAVER: You said, “I felt a sense of loss and grief with every blow of the wrecking ball.”

BIDEN: That's right. I mean, there was so much really institutional memory in that building. I loved the East Wing.

BRAVER: Did you ever think of changing the title after the East Wing was destroyed?

BIDEN: Oh, no. Then I thought, this is the perfect title for my book.

Finally we look at the debate debacle portion of the interview.

JOE BIDEN: In America, everything is possible. We believe every and anything is possible.

RITA BRAVER: Joe Biden proudly touts her husband's accomplishments.

JILL BIDEN: He got legislation done. He- I mean, he created more jobs in his four-year term than any other president. Look at all he did. I mean, look at the infrastructure bill. And, you know, the American Rescue Plan.

BRAVER: When she arrived at the first presidential debate of 2024, she saw that President Biden wasn't feeling well.

JILL BIDEN: But then Joe always, even if he was off a little bit, would always rally, and I thought, “okay, so he'll get in there in that debate and he'll be fine.” He is going to rally. But he got in there. He got into the debate and he didn't.

JOE BIDEN: …making sure they were able to make every single solitary person eligible for what I have been able to do with the -- with the covid -- excuse me, with dealing with everything we have to do with -- look, if- we finally beat Medicare.

BRAVER: Were you horrified as you saw it unfold?

JILL BIDEN: I wasn't horrified. I was frightened because I had never, ever seen Joe like that before or since. Never.

BRAVER: Or since.

JILL BIDEN: Yes.

BRAVER: Never seen him like that.

JILL BIDEN: Never. No.

BRAVER: What happened?

JILL BIDEN: I don't know what happened. I mean, as I watched it, I thought, oh my God, he’s having a stroke. And it scared me to death. And then he never seemed to --

BRAVER: Find himself?

JILL BIDEN: Find himself, yeah, after that. But then, Rita, I have to tell you, as we were walking out, you know, he said I really -- I am not going to use the words because it's morning TV, but I really sort of messed up, didn't I? And I said, yes, you did. And we left the stage area, and what people don't know, he had two events after that, and he was fine. I mean, he was fine. It was inexplicable.

BRAVER: What if that happened during a meeting with foreign leaders or something like that?

JILL BIDEN: I don’t know how to answer that.

How do we know that this didn’t happen? One recalls the former president having to get wrangled by Italian Prime Minister Meloni during the D-Day celebrations, because he strayed from the group photo. 

Again, we didn’t get much from Braver in the way of follow-up. The interview was little more than a safe space for Jill Biden to try to reframe her husband's quadrennium and promote her book. It was not a safe space for things such as questions or reporting. As our own Curtis Houck often muses, the new CBS isn't Newsmax- no matter how much the media hall monitors may howl otherwise.

 

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