Trump asks why Bidens went to Waffle House after debate if Jill feared Joe was having a stroke

WASHINGTON, DC: President Donald Trump questioned former first lady Jill Biden’s claim that she feared Joe Biden was having a stroke during the 2024 debate, arguing that the couple’s actions afterward did not match that concern.

His remarks came during a podcast interview. Jill Biden has been revisiting the debate-night episode in a series of interviews tied to her newly released memoir.

Trump questions Jill Biden’s debate account

Speaking during an interview with Miranda Devine on ‘Pod Force One’, Trump challenged Jill Biden’s recent description of what she believed was happening to her husband during the debate.

“People saw him before the debate, and he was fine,” Trump said. “I wouldn’t say it was Winston Churchill, but he was fine. He was all right.”

Devine noted that Jill and Joe Biden stopped at a Waffle House in Georgia after the debate ended.

Trump then pointed to that appearance as he questioned her account.

“Yeah. I mean, so she said he had a stroke, but why would she bring him to a Waffle House if he had a stroke?” Trump said.

Devine followed by asking whether first lady Melania Trump would have allowed him to go to a Waffle House if she believed he had suffered a stroke.

“Even in good times, she wouldn’t,” Trump replied before joking, “Although I would actually, it’s not so bad.”

Jill Biden details debate-night fears

Trump’s comments followed a series of recent interviews in which Jill Biden discussed her reaction to Joe Biden’s widely scrutinized debate performance.

In her memoir, ‘View from the East Wing: A Memoir’, she wrote that she still could not explain what happened on stage.

“To this day, I still don’t know what happened. Why wasn’t he making any sense?” she wrote. “It was inexplicable to me.”

She added that the only comparable moment she could recall was after a previous surgery and said, “I wish I’d thought of asking for a blood test, just so we’d know what was in his system.”

In another passage, she described watching the debate unfold in real time.

“Joe had something nonsensical about beating Medicare. Is he short-circuiting? I thought. Is this a stroke?” she wrote.

She also questioned whether he had been drugged and worried viewers would believe that was his normal condition.

Jill says doctors cleared Joe Biden

During an appearance on MSNBC’s ‘Morning Joe’, Jill Biden said doctors examined her husband immediately after the debate and found nothing wrong.

“And then we got off the stage and, you know, I went to get my stuff. He was checked out by the doctors. They said he’s fine,” she said.

Jill Biden delivers remarks during a reception to celebrate Asian American, Native Hawaiian and Pacific Islander Heritage Month in the Rose Garden of the White House on May 17, 2022 in Washington, DC  (Photo by Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images)

She added that the couple continued with their schedule that evening.

“We went on to do three more events that night, and Joe was like he always was,” Jill Biden said.

Jill Biden has continued promoting her memoir since its release, keeping renewed attention on the debate that ultimately fueled pressure on Joe Biden’s 2024 campaign and remains under scrutiny as she offers new details about what she believed was happening that night.