{"id":41495,"date":"2026-08-12T19:42:49","date_gmt":"2026-08-12T14:42:49","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/?p=41495"},"modified":"2026-08-12T19:42:49","modified_gmt":"2026-08-12T14:42:49","slug":"nancy-pelosi-calls-out-biden-allies-who-knew-about-his-decline-despite-admitting-she-was-startled-by-then-presidents-condition","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/?p=41495","title":{"rendered":"Nancy Pelosi calls out Biden allies who knew about his decline \u2014 despite admitting she was &#8216;startled&#8217; by then-president&#8217;s condition"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><script>\r\n  atOptions = {\r\n    'key' : '644b717812d811d6a1c1fc5b6ccd6fa6',\r\n    'format' : 'iframe',\r\n    'height' : 90,\r\n    'width' : 728,\r\n    'params' : {}\r\n  };\r\n<\/script>\r\n<script src=\"https:\/\/www.highperformanceformat.com\/644b717812d811d6a1c1fc5b6ccd6fa6\/invoke.js\"><\/script>\r\n<br \/>\n<br \/><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/nypost.com\/wp-content%2Fuploads%2Fsites%2F2%2F2026%2F08%2F137171521.jpg?quality%3D90%26strip%3Dall\" \/><\/p>\n<div>\n<p>WASHINGTON \u2014 Former House Speaker <a href=\"https:\/\/nypost.com\/2026\/08\/11\/us-news\/nancy-pelosi-drops-hint-on-gavin-newsoms-white-house-plans\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Nancy Pelosi<\/a> bashed allies of <a href=\"https:\/\/nypost.com\/2026\/08\/08\/us-news\/joe-bidens-prostate-cancer-has-spread-hunter-reveals\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">former President Joe Biden<\/a> Tuesday, saying those who were aware of the 46th president\u2019s cognitive decline \u201cshould have acted upon that information\u201d earlier.<\/p>\n<p>The 86-year-old Pelosi (D-Calif.) claimed at Politico\u2019s \u201c<a href=\"https:\/\/www.politico.com\/news\/2026\/08\/11\/pelosi-those-who-knew-of-bidens-decline-should-have-acted-01033440\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">The California Agenda: Sacramento Summit<\/a>\u201d event that she \u201cdidn\u2019t really know\u201d about Biden\u2019s problems before his disastrous June 27, 2024, debate against Donald Trump, saying that she rarely saw the then-commander in chief in person after Democrats lost the House majority in the 2022 midterm elections.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI do think that those who did know should have acted upon that information. Whoever knew,\u201d she claimed. \u201cThere was staff saying the family knew. The family said the staff.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>However, author Chris Whipple alleged in his 2025 book \u201cUncharted\u201d that Pelosi told a friend that she was \u201c<a href=\"https:\/\/nypost.com\/2025\/04\/11\/us-news\/pelosi-was-already-startled-by-bidens-cognitive-decline-when-she-slammed-wsj-report-on-his-mental-acuity-book\/\">startled by how much the president had aged<\/a>\u201d when Biden presented her with the Presidential Medal of Freedom in May 2024 at a White House ceremony.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cHe was not the same Joe Biden,\u201d Whipple quoted Pelosi as saying. <\/p>\n<p>The following month, Pelosi touted Biden\u2019s \u201cwisdom, experience, strength and strategic thinking\u201d after the Wall Street Journal published a story \u2014 <a href=\"https:\/\/nypost.com\/2024\/06\/04\/us-news\/biden-showing-signs-of-decline-as-pols-aides-detail-81-year-olds-slipping-cognitive-fitness\/\">more than three weeks before the debate<\/a> \u2014 in which more than 45 Republican and Democratic lawmakers and staffers reported the president spoke so softly during meetings that participants struggled to understand him, did not appear to know what policies were in place, and relied on aides to answer direct questions.\u00a0<\/p>\n<aside class=\"single__inline-module aligncenter wp-block-nypost-editor-primary-tag\">\n<\/aside>\n<figure class=\"nyp-slideshow-modal-image wp-block-image aligncenter size-large\"><figcaption>Nancy Pelosi claimed she was inundated with calls after the June 2024 debate, and some Dems told her they felt like she gave them a path to call for the president to step aside. <span class=\"credit\">AP Photo\/Annie Barker<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<figure class=\"nyp-slideshow-modal-image wp-block-image aligncenter size-large\"><figcaption>Former President Joe Biden faced a Democratic mutiny after his fumbling debate performance against President Trump. <span class=\"credit\">REUTERS<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>Pelosi decried the Journal story in a <a href=\"https:\/\/x.com\/SpeakerPelosi\/status\/1798362749543870585\">June 5, 2024, X post<\/a> as a \u201chit piece\u201d that \u201cignored testimony by Democrats\u201d and \u201cfocused on attacks by Republicans.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWhen you think of the debate and how sad that was, that\u2019s really when we learned,\u201d she insisted Tuesday to Politico correspondent Jonathan Martin. \u201cI didn\u2019t know, and I think he had his sort of ups and downs.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The longtime San Francisco lawmaker also argued that her involvement in convincing Biden to end his re-election bid was \u201cwritten about in a way that really didn\u2019t happen.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI only said to President\u00a0Biden, \u2018I\u2019ve come to question the polling that you have and how your campaign is being conducted,\u2019\u201d\u00a0Pelosi\u00a0recounted. \u201c\u2026 Because, at that point, 72% of the American people didn\u2019t think he should run.\u201d<\/p>\n<figure class=\"nyp-slideshow-modal-image wp-block-image aligncenter size-large\"><figcaption>The two Catholic Democrats have since had an icy relationship after the party\u2019s mutiny against former President Joe Biden. <span class=\"credit\">Getty Images<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>She also said she urged Biden to get some sort of cognitive examination and release the results to reassure the public that he could \u201cserve the next term.\u201d <\/p>\n<p>Pelosi denied directly telling Biden to drop out of the race and has <a href=\"https:\/\/nypost.com\/2024\/08\/04\/us-news\/pelosi-smiles-as-she-denies-leading-mutiny-that-toppled-biden\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">previously denied making calls<\/a> to Democrats who later pushed for the president to end his re-election bid.<\/p>\n<p>However, Pelosi notably declined to back Biden <a href=\"https:\/\/nypost.com\/2024\/07\/10\/us-news\/pelosi-dodges-question-on-whether-biden-should-remain-in-2024-race-says-time-is-running-short-to-find-replacement\/\">during a July 10, 2024, appearance<\/a> on \u201cMorning Joe,\u201d said to be the president\u2019s favorite morning show, saying instead: \u201cIt\u2019s up to the president to decide if he is going to run. We\u2019re all encouraging him to make that decision because time is running short.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Last year, Biden announced that he was diagnosed with prostate cancer that has since metastasized to his bones. Due to the diagnosis, former first lady Jill Biden <a href=\"https:\/\/nypost.com\/2026\/06\/01\/us-news\/jill-biden-admits-she-wouldnt-have-advised-a-second-term-for-joe\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">has since claimed<\/a> that a second term wouldn\u2019t have been advisable for her husband. <\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<script async=\"async\" data-cfasync=\"false\" src=\"https:\/\/pl30214220.effectivecpmnetwork.com\/9ab3d4df8a7e1a6171e16ddbf732cc19\/invoke.js\"><\/script>\r\n<div id=\"container-9ab3d4df8a7e1a6171e16ddbf732cc19\"><\/div>\r\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>WASHINGTON \u2014 Former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi bashed allies of former President Joe Biden Tuesday, saying those who were aware of the 46th president\u2019s cognitive decline \u201cshould have acted upon that information\u201d earlier. The 86-year-old Pelosi (D-Calif.) claimed at Politico\u2019s \u201cThe California Agenda: Sacramento Summit\u201d event that she \u201cdidn\u2019t really know\u201d about Biden\u2019s problems before&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":41496,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/nypost.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2026\/08\/137171521.jpg?quality=75&strip=all&w=1200","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-41495","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-pics-news"],"brizy_media":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/41495","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=41495"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/41495\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/41496"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=41495"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=41495"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=41495"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}