Biden’s apparent mental decline hidden by White House from the start? Bombshell report reveals cover-up tactics

US President Joe Biden's terrible performance at the June 27 presidential debate raised concerns about his age, health and ability to lead the federal government. The White House faces many questions about Biden's health and medical history.

Now, it has come to the fore White House aides covered up Biden's apparent mental decline from Day 1 of his presidency, protecting the aging commander-in-chief from the public and even rearranging his schedule after scatterbrained performances, an explosive report has revealed on Thursday.

Biden has been hosting the fewest large press conferences in modern history and frequently descending into gaffes at the podium when he delivered speeches. His aides now spilled the beans that how much White House made up for the haziness until now had been hidden, his aides told the WSJ.


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How White House hid Biden's apparent mental decline

Right after Biden took office amid the Covid-19 pandemic, presidential staff formed a tight shell around Biden. The staff immediately limited his in-person interactions in January 2021. Not just this, staffers also began making adjustments to daily plans when the president appeared tired or kept stumbling on the world stage (both figuratively and literally), the report said.

Meetings were being rescheduled to accommodate for his “good days and bad days" by spring 2021. Meetings were often scheduled for later in the day — a fact first disclosed after Biden’s debate flop against President-elect Donald Trump, when staff admitted the then-Democratic nominee had difficulty functioning outside a six-hour window that closed around 4 p.m. daily, the report revealed.

Officials were asked to make their briefings short and to the point inside the room with the President. Biden's private discussions with some of the top cabinet picks, including Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen and Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin became less.

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Voice coach for Biden?

According to the report, the White House also hired a voice coach, Hollywood mogul and campaign co-chairman Jeffrey Katzenberg, to try to improve Biden's faint, raspy tone. Other staffers removed negative reports from Biden’s stack of news for the day, misleading him about the public’s opinion of his job performance — which reached a 70-year low in 2024.

The signs were always there-throughout his term in the Oval Office. He frequently relied on notecards, was spotted having large directions printed for him, often mixed up the names of foreign dignitaries or other facts and gaffed when he went off-script or ignored his teleprompter. Biden even forgot the year his son Beau Biden died of brain cancer.

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Campaign staff were also concerned that first lady Jill Biden would outshine the president, even during the 2020 primary, according to the Journal.

“The more you talk her up, the more you make him look bad,” her press secretary at the time, Michael LaRosa, told the outlet he was instructed by Jill’s closest confidant, White House staffer Anthony Bernal.

During her husband’s term, the first lady even tried to stop him from going it alone too long at press conferences, fearing he’d be caught flat-footed by questions as the events dragged on.