Former President Joe Biden had forgotten the names of a host of people — lawmakers, fundraisers, foreign dignitaries — midway through his final term as president, including two longtime White House aides, the New York Post reported Tuesday.
The Post cited the upcoming book titled "Original Sin" that is set to be released May 20.
The book chronicles how Biden's mental acuity had begun to wane as far as back as the 2020 presidential campaign. By December 2022, however, Biden could not recall the names of national security adviser Jake Sullivan and White House spokeswoman Kate Bedingfield, according to the book.
Biden was asking for "Steve" — Sullivan — when announcing the release of WNBA player Brittney Griner from Russian confinement in a prisoner exchange. As for Bedingfield, Biden simply called her "press," according to the report.
Sullivan had worked for Biden since 2013 and Bedingfield since 2015 when he was vice president in the Obama administration.
In an incident not included in the book, authored by CNN host Jake Tapper and Alex Thompson of Axios, Biden in September 2022 called for the late Rep. Jackie Walorski to identify herself at an event in Washington. However, the Indiana Republican had died in a car crash the month before.
Public gaffes like that prompted former Commerce Secretary Bill Daley, political director to Biden's 1988 presidential campaign, to begin making phone calls within the party in 2023 to investigate a replacement, according to the report.
"We attempted to shield him from his own staff, so many people didn't realize the extent of the decline beginning in 2023," a senior White House aide said in the book.
Hollywood star George Clooney was reportedly "shaken to his core" when Biden failed to recognize him at a 2024 fundraising event.
As far back as 2019, Biden forgot the name of his adviser of 40 years Mike Donilon, according to the book.
It was Donilon who tried to assure Democrats that Biden was fine after the infamous June 27, 2024, debate with then-Republican candidate Donald Trump that led to then-Vice President Kamala Harris becoming the Democrat candidate weeks later.
"I promise he's OK," Donilon said.