Original Sin: book on Biden’s health decline reopens Democratic party’s wounds

George Clooney “felt a knot form in his stomach” as a frail and diminished Joe Biden approached him, apparently failing to recognise one of the most famous actors in the world. “George Clooney,” an aide eventually clarified for the US president. “Oh, yeah!” Biden said. “Hi, George!”

The excruciating encounter at a glitzy Los Angeles fundraiser last June is one of several damning anecdotes contained in Original Sin: President Biden’s Decline, Its Cover-Up, and His Disastrous Choice to Run Again, an upcoming book by journalists Jake Tapper and Alex Thompson.

Previews of the book gripped Washington this week, exposing the shocking truth of the last year of Biden’s presidency as his health declined and reopening old wounds in the Democratic party and White House press corps. The revelations also fuelled questions over what political role, if any, 82-year-old Biden has to play in the future as he strives to redeem his legacy