During her speech at the National Governors Association, Jill Biden, now the first lady, shared an anecdote about vocational training but failed to deliver the punchline.
“As many of you know, I’ve been teaching writing for 40 years,” Jill noted. “So one day, a student named Harry who wanted to be an auto mechanic raised his hand. ‘Dr. B.,’ he said. ‘The only thing I need to learn how to write is, ‘NEEDS BRAKES.’”
Some audience members laughed too late, interrupting her next line.
“Well, you finally got it! Come on! Wake up!” she said.
Additionally, a new book by New York Times reporter Katie Rogers notes that Jill confronted President Biden and his aides after a nearly two-hour January 2022 press conference where the president stumbled over facts and reacted strongly to a reporter.
During the press conference commemorating Biden’s first year in office, Jill watched with a look that told aides “they had some explaining to do.”
She demanded to know “Why didn’t anyone stop that?” and played along as aides remained silent, though one had suggested ending it.
“’Where were you guys? Where was the person who was going to end the press conference?’” Jill asked, the book states.
“She had watched the news conference, and the look on her face told everyone in the room — from the president on down — that they had some explaining to do,” Rogers wrote. “‘Why didn’t anyone stop that?’ she demanded.”
“Everyone stayed silent, looking at one another, and then at her, and back to one another. That included the most powerful man in the world. Her husband essentially played along, not offering an answer, even though aides had slipped him a card suggesting he end the press conference,” Rogers wrote.
The report comes amid concerns about Biden’s advanced age and memory lapses detailed in special counsel Robert Hur’s recent report on Biden’s handling of classified documents, which found evidence he willfully retained materials after leaving office and couldn’t recall key details like his vice presidency or son Beau’s death year.
“Mr. Biden will likely present himself to the jury, as he did during his interview with our office, as a sympathetic, well-meaning, elderly man with a poor memory,” Hur wrote. “It would be difficult to convince a jury they should convict him – by then a former president who will be at least well into his eighties – of a serious felony that requires a mental state of willfulness.”
“Our investigation uncovered evidence that President Biden willfully retained and disclosed classified materials after his vice presidency when he was a private citizen,” the report stated.
