A bombshell book set to be released on May 20, 2025 is poised to shake up political discourse by escalating concerns about former United States President Joe Biden’s health.
The book, titled Original Sin: President Biden’s Decline, Its Cover-Up, and His Disastrous Choice to Run Again, is authored by CNN’s Jake Tapper and Axios’ Alex Thompson.
An early preview of the book shows that it detailed Biden’s health crisis and an alleged cover-up that took place during the build-up to the 2024 U.S. presidential election.
The book also claims to reveal undisclosed medical records, insider accounts, and purported evidence of deliberate efforts by White House staff to conceal Biden’s health from voters.
According to the book, Biden, aged 82, allegedly faced significant cognitive and physical challenges, including memory lapses and mobility issues so severe “that aides discussed the possibility of him needing a wheelchair during a potential second term.”
Sources cited in the book described incidents such as Biden failing to recognize longtime supporter George Clooney at a June 2024 fundraiser and struggling to communicate coherently in private meetings.
These accounts paint a picture of a president whose purported health decline was far worse than publicly acknowledged.
Tapper and Thompson argued that Biden’s decision to run for re-election, despite these health concerns, was the “original sin” of the 2024 campaign.
They claim his team, including close aides and family, allegedly limited access to the former president during his final days in office and scripted interactions to mask his condition.
This alleged cover-up was said to have kept key Democrats, including Cabinet members, in the dark on Biden’s health situation, with some describing a “weird period” in 2024 where interactions with Biden were minimal or heavily managed.
The book also argued the alleged Biden health cover-up contributed to former U.S. Vice President Kamala Harris’s loss to incumbent President Donald Trump in 2024, as Biden’s late withdrawal in July left her with just 107 days to campaign.
In an appearance on CNN, where he is lead DC anchor and chief Washington correspondent, Tapper said: “The White House was lying not only to the press, not only to the public, but they were lying to members of their cabinet. They were lying to White House staffers. They were lying to Democratic members of Congress, to donors, about how bad things had gotten.”
The book’s release comes amid Biden’s recent prostate cancer diagnosis, announced on May 18, 2025, adding further scrutiny to his health status.
Recall that an official statement released by Biden’s office confirmed that the former president had been diagnosed with what was described as an aggressive form of prostate cancer.
