US President Donald Trump has revisited his contentious 2024 presidential debate against former president Joe Biden, saying Biden appeared unusually pale moments before the event began.
In a video shared by Clash Report on X, Trump recalled his reaction when he first saw Biden on stage during the June 2024 debate in Atlanta.
“First, and they introduced him first, which is very unusual,” Trump said in the clip. “And when I went up, I looked at him and I said, ‘He’s so white.’ You know, that was the big thing. I said, ‘What happened to him?’”
Trump then suggested something felt “strange” about Biden’s performance that night, which was widely criticized across political circles and media outlets at the time.
“It was not a good debate performance,” Trump said. “I think maybe I was a contributing factor to the fact that he didn’t debate well. I don’t know. Something happened. Yeah, something happened. It was strange.”
Comments follow Trump’s criticism of Jill Biden
Trump’s latest remarks come shortly after he mocked former first lady Jill Biden over comments she made about Biden’s health during the debate.
Trump criticized Jill Biden in a Truth Social post after excerpts from her upcoming memoir and a CBS News interview drew attention. Speaking to CBS, Jill Biden said she feared her husband may have been suffering a serious medical issue while watching the debate unfold.
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“As I watched it, I thought, ‘Oh, my God, he’s having a stroke,’” she said.
According to excerpts published by The Atlantic from her memoir View from the East Wing: A Memoir, Jill Biden also wondered whether Biden had “short-circuited” or been “drugged” during the debate performance.
Trump seized on those comments in his Truth Social post, arguing that his own debate performance may have contributed to Biden struggling on stage.
“The only thing she failed to mention was how well I was doing prior to his near total collapse,” Trump wrote.
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Debate fallout changed course of 2024 election
Biden’s performance during the June 2024 debate became a major turning point in the presidential race, intensifying concerns among Democrats over his age and fitness for office.
Weeks later, Biden ended his re-election campaign and endorsed then-vice president Kamala Harris as the Democratic nominee.
Trump ultimately defeated Harris in the 2024 election and returned to the White House.
