Former President Joe Biden has said in a new interview he would have stepped down and abandoned his 2024 re-election bid had he known he was suffering from cancer.
“If I had known that I was feeling lousy because I had cancer, I would have resigned. I would’ve not gone forward, because I don’t think an 80-year-old man with cancer should be running for [president],” Biden, now 83, told PEOPLE ahead of the release next week of his memoir, “Promise Me, America.”
The 46th president announced in May 2025 that he had been diagnosed with stage 4 prostate cancer that had spread to his bones. He has since completed radiation treatment and begun hormone therapy.
Biden ultimately dropped out of the 2024 race on July 21 of that year, weeks after a disastrous debate performance against Donald Trump sparked an internal revolt by members of his own party.
Despite Biden’s visible struggles with health and signs of cognitive decline, he insisted to PEOPLE that “I believe that on an objective basis, I was the best-equipped person to do the job.”
“I don’t know anybody who hasn’t made a mistake in a debate,” Biden added. “To me, it was not very consequential.”
Throughout the CNN-hosted forum, Biden struggled to finish thoughts and stumbled over his words, concluding one answer with the now-infamous non sequitur, “We finally beat Medicare.”
The former president also defended his decision to pardon his son Hunter and grant pre-emptive clemency to other members of the Biden family.
“I watched the modus operandi of Trump. He goes after people without any basis, whether they’re viewed as an enemy,” Biden said. “I knew what he would do.”
Biden also criticized his successor’s decision to demolish the White House East Wing and construct a massive ballroom in its place, saying Trump wanted “nothing more than to try to create monuments to himself: ‘I built that.’”
“I find it beneath the country,” he continued.
Turning back to his health, Biden said his prognosis was optimistic, claiming his latest tests showed the cancer had not spread.
“There’s a lot of people who’ve been diagnosed with cancer, particularly the kind of cancer I have, who live long lives, who live for another 10, 20 years,” he said.
“I’m not saying I’ll live forever,” Biden said. “But the point is that I have all of my faculties, I have access to all the things I had before, and I feel good.”
“Promise Me, America” is available Nov. 17.
