SACRAMENTO, Calif., Aug. 13 (San Francisco News Online) — Former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said people who knew about Joe Biden’s condition during the 2024 presidential campaign should have acted, while denying that she knew the extent of any decline or directly told Biden to leave the race.
Pelosi made the comments during an interview with POLITICO correspondent Jonathan Martin at POLITICO’s California Agenda: Sacramento Summit in Sacramento. A C-SPAN recording captures portions of the interview.
“I do think that those who did know should have acted upon that information. Whoever knew,” Pelosi said, according to the event recording and POLITICO’s account.
The remarks renew a central question from the 2024 campaign: who around Biden knew about concerns over his ability to serve another term, and when did they know it?
What Pelosi says she knew
Pelosi said she did not know about the extent of Biden’s problems and had seen him in person only a few times during the year before the election. She said she had not personally witnessed a decline.
“I didn’t know, and I think he had his sort of ups and downs,” Pelosi said in the C-SPAN recording.
She characterized Biden’s June 27, 2024, debate with Donald Trump as the moment when she and the public became aware that there was a serious problem. The supplied sources do not identify a medical diagnosis or provide independent medical records establishing the condition Pelosi described.
Pelosi also referred to conflicting accounts about whether Biden’s staff or family members knew more about his condition. “There was staff saying the family knew. The family said the staff,” she said. She did not identify the people involved, and no documentary evidence about those claims was presented in the interview.
What Pelosi says she discussed with Biden
Pelosi said she privately raised concerns with Biden about his campaign polling and how the campaign was being run. She said she urged him to consider using outside pollsters rather than relying only on the campaign’s internal polling.
She also said she encouraged Biden to release medical or diagnostic testing to reassure the public that he could serve another term.
Pelosi cited a figure of 72% for Americans who, she said, did not think Biden should run. The interview materials do not identify the poll, its date, its methodology or the pollster, so the figure cannot be independently assessed from the supplied information.
Did Pelosi tell Biden to drop out?
Pelosi denied doing so.
“I didn’t ask him not to run or anything like that,” she said, according to Fox News’ transcript of her remarks. In the C-SPAN recording, she added: “Never. I’ve never told anyone not to run.”
Her comments distinguish between raising concerns about polling, campaign strategy and the release of medical information, and directly asking Biden to end his campaign. The interview did not include a recording or transcript of any private meeting between Pelosi and Biden, and Biden’s response to her account was not provided.
Pelosi’s explanation also differs from broader accounts portraying her as an important figure in pressure on Biden during the campaign. The supplied information does not independently establish which account is correct.
Why the remarks matter
The issue is not only whether Pelosi personally knew about Biden’s condition. It also concerns the responsibility of political aides, family members and other officials who may have had closer access to him.
Pelosi placed that responsibility on anyone who had information about a decline. At the same time, she said her own concerns before the debate focused on public polling, campaign operations and the need for medical reassurance—not on a condition she said she had observed firsthand.
The comments came in California, where Pelosi built her political career, but the issue is national. Biden was the Democratic candidate for president in 2024, and the debate raised questions about his fitness to continue seeking another term. Pelosi’s latest account adds her version to an unresolved debate over what Democratic leaders and Biden’s inner circle knew and when they should have acted.
