Biden aides pushed for early debate with Trump: Memo

Former President Biden's top aides urged him to take part in the debate against President Trump last summer that ultimately drove Biden to drop his reelection campaign last year, a newly released memo shows.

"The earlier YOU are able to debate the better, so that the American people can see YOU standing next to Trump and showing the strength of YOUR leadership, compared to Trump's weakness and chaos," a group identified as senior advisers wrote in an April 15 memo to Biden that was published Monday via Politico Playbook. "After further discussion, YOUR Senior Advisors, including Ron and Cedric, continue to believe it is important to move forward with a plan that supports YOUR participation in debates as early as possible."

Former Biden chief of staff Ron Klain led Biden's debate prep before he faced Trump in the disastrous July 2024 head-to-head, while former White House senior adviser Cedric Richmond was a 2020 and 2024 Biden campaign co-chair. Both have been close political confidants of Biden for years.

"YOUR Senior Advisers think strategically holding these debates in the fall, after many of the battleground states have already begun their early voting process and voter registration deadlines have passed is too late," the advisers wrote in the memo.

But rather than fortifying Biden's reelection chances, the debate jump-started questions about his fitness to serve another four years and calls for him to step aside.

The White House said at the time that Biden, who was 81 years old, had a cold, but his close supporters feared that his wavering voice, halted speaking and meandering answers doomed his reelection chances. He withdrew from the race the following month and supported then-Vice President Kamala Harris to move to the top of the Democratic ticket to face Trump.

Trump won the popular vote and the Electoral College to secure the White House for a second, nonconsecutive term.

The memo was obtained by journalists Josh Dawsey of The Wall Street Journal, Tyler Pager of The New York Times and Isaac Arnsdorf of The Washington Post, while reporting their book, "2024: How Trump Retook the White House and the Democrats Lost America," which will be released Tuesday.