In what may be the most explosive account yet of the Biden presidency, Original Sin—the new tell-all by CNN’s Jake Tapper and Axios’s Alex Thompson—lays bare the hidden power dynamics and carefully concealed vulnerabilities that defined the final stretch of Joe Biden’s time in the White House. But while many Americans long suspected President Biden’s cognitive decline, this book puts the spotlight squarely on Jill Biden, portraying her not as a passive first lady but as a central figure managing, shielding, and at times overruling the very machinery of the executive branch.
Far from the ceremonial role usually reserved for presidential spouses, Jill Biden is depicted as the de facto chief of staff, wielding extraordinary behind-the-scenes influence. According to more than 200 insiders interviewed, Jill maintained a “constant influence over the West Wing”, frequently intervening to protect her husband—from press gaffes, from political allies, and even from the truth about his own condition.
She reportedly cut off conversations mid-sentence, berated staff, and helped finish his sentences in meetings. At a pivotal Hollywood fundraiser, when President Biden failed to recognize George Clooney, it was Jill who stepped in and ended the interaction before it could spiral further.
Moments like these weren’t isolated. They were a pattern, repeated in donor events, policy meetings, and even casual social encounters—every one of them managed with precision by Jill and her inner circle, including top aide Anthony Bernal and Deputy Chief of Staff Annie Tomasini.
The portrait painted in Original Sin is not just about influence. It’s about preserving the illusion of leadership in a presidency where aides openly debated whether Joe Biden would need a wheelchair in a second term, and where his schedule was carefully designed around short walking distances, cue cards, and visual buffers. After high-profile stumbles—including the infamous sandbag fall at the Air Force Academy and his bike crash in Rehoboth Beach—staff reportedly edited footage and shortened routes to minimize public exposure to his fragility.
Inside the White House, doctors and aides clashed over how to manage Biden’s physical state. According to the book, White House physician Dr. Kevin O’Connor at one point warned that the president’s team was “trying to kill him” by pushing him beyond his physical limits.
If the president’s body was faltering, his emotional health was equally strained, largely due to the ongoing legal implosions surrounding Hunter Biden. The book describes Hunter’s 2024 trial and conviction as a “500-pound weight” dropped on the president, who reportedly lived in “constant dread of losing another child.”
Hunter’s past—fueled by addiction, questionable business dealings, and deeply personal scandals—wasn’t just a political liability. It was, by the account of multiple top aides, an emotional anchor that contributed to Joe Biden’s deterioration. And yet, the White House kept a firm grip on optics, rarely allowing the public to see the burden the president carried behind the scenes.
At the center of it all was Jill Biden. Fiercely loyal, yes—but also unapologetically controlling, according to the book’s sources. She shut down difficult conversations, directed staff, and according to one insider, was one of the most powerful first ladies in U.S. history. When Biden veered off-script at a press conference and took a question about his cognitive fitness from Newsmax’s James Rosen, Jill was livid.
“Why didn’t anyone stop that?” she reportedly demanded of his staff.
This pattern raises serious questions—not only about Joe Biden’s fitness to serve, but about who was really running the executive branch during critical years of American leadership.
For Republicans, the revelations confirm long-standing criticisms. From “Sleepy Joe” to the allegation that Biden was a figurehead, Trump and his supporters repeatedly warned that the American public wasn’t getting the full story. Now, with Biden out of office and these details emerging, those warnings seem prophetic.
Trump, in his characteristically blunt style, claimed Biden “spent more time sleeping than governing,” a jab now difficult to dismiss in light of staffers’ own admissions that cue cards, whispering aides, and shortened walkways were standard operating procedure.
