EASTORA REPORT | Joe Biden says he would have left the White House and ended his 2024 campaign if he had known cancer was making him feel unwell. The former U.S. president insists he had no such diagnosis at the time—and still believes he was capable of doing the job.
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“If I had known that I was feeling lousy because I had cancer, I would have resigned,” Biden told PEOPLE in an interview published Wednesday, November 11. At his Wilmington, Delaware, home, he said he would not have kept campaigning. He said an 80-year-old man with cancer should not be seeking the presidency. He also denied concealing his illness from the public.
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Biden, 83, announced in May 2025 that he had stage 4 prostate cancer that had spread to his bones. He has completed radiation treatment, remains on hormone therapy and takes eight pills a day. He said two recent tests found no additional spread beyond the disease already identified, and maintained that he retains his mental and physical abilities.
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For Jill Biden, the diagnosis abruptly changed the couple’s plans for life after the presidency. She recalled looking through a travel magazine and imagining their next trip before realizing their plans had changed. She now keeps track of his meals, exercise, medication and doctors’ visits.
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Biden was equally unwilling to reconsider his much-criticized June 2024 debate with Donald Trump. He called his performance “not very consequential,” saying he had expected another debate. The encounter intensified concerns about his candidacy, and he withdrew the next month. He argued that his relationships with world leaders made him uniquely qualified to serve.
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After Democrats’ November 3 midterm victories, Biden welcomed the results. He praised the election of new women and Black governors and said voters had resisted Trump’s political bravado.
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Ahead of the November 17 release of his memoir, Promise Me, America, Biden considered his legacy. He acknowledged mistakes but said he had tried to keep his promises. His cancer has already forced him to reduce plans to promote the book; he still insists his illness did not interfere with his work as president.