Biden says he would have skipped 2024 re-election bid had he known about his cancer
In a People magazine interview, former President Joe Biden said he would not have run for a second term in 2024 if he had been aware of his metastatic prostate cancer, which was diagnosed after he left office.
Former President Joe Biden told People magazine that he was unaware of his metastatic prostate cancer while serving as president and that, had he known, he would not have pursued a 2024 re-election campaign. Biden, who turned 84 on Nov. 20, said, "> If I had known that I was feeling lousy because I had cancer, I would’ve not gone forward" with the bid that ended after a poor debate performance against President Donald Trump. He added that an 80-year-old man with cancer should not be running for the office. Biden noted that the June 2024 debate, held less than five months before Election Day, did not significantly affect his decision, stating, "> First of all, I thought there’d be another debate, which there wasn’t. But notwithstanding the fact that there wasn’t another debate, it didn’t disturb me because it wasn’t consequential." After ending his campaign, Biden endorsed Kamala Harris, who secured the Democratic nomination and lost to President Trump in the general election. Biden maintained that his age was not a disqualifier, arguing that his experience and relationships with world leaders made him "the best-equipped person to do the job" on an objective basis. His son, Hunter Biden, told the BBC that the cancer had spread and caused significant pain. Biden defended his son’s public presence and a presidential pardon granted after Hunter’s 2024 conviction on federal gun and tax charges, saying the pardon was necessary to protect his family from what he described as President Trump’s vindictive actions.