Former President Joe Biden warned on Thursday that the country is facing “dark days” under President Donald Trump’s watch, saying the executive branch “seems to be doing its best to dismantle the Constitution.”
“They’re doing it all too often with the help of a Congress that’s just sitting in the sidelines and enabled by the highest court in the nation. The rulings they’ve made, my God,” Biden said as he spoke at the National Bar Association’s annual gala in Chicago.
“Folks, in our lives, the life of our nation, there are moments so stark that they divide all that came before from everything that followed. Moments that forced us to confront hard truth about ourselves, our institutions and democracy itself,” he continued. “We are, in my view, at such a moment in American history, reflected in every cruel executive outreach, every rollback of basic freedoms, every erosion of long-standing established precedent.”
Biden never mentioned Trump by name, instead referring to him as “this guy,” and argued the American people are beginning to realize the need for judicial checks on the executive branch.
“Judges matter. Courts matter. The law matters and the Constitution matters. I think a lot of Americans are starting to realize that under the pressure we’re under now with this guy we have as president,” he said. “Oh, get ready, folks, this is just starting.”
Biden called out “law firms bowing to pressure, bending to bullies, instead of staying rooted in justice and the law,” along with some of the biggest news outlets in the country. He also scorned “the apparent glee some of our politicians express” at the administration’s aggressive approach to immigration enforcement.
Biden said the current administration is intent on working to “ease all the gains we’ve made in my administration, to erase history, rather than make it, to erase fairness, equality, to erase justice itself.”
“Folks, we can’t sugarcoat this. These are dark days, but you’re all here for the same reason,” he said. “It’s because our future is literally on the line. We must, we must be unapologetic of fighting for the future.”
Biden’s latest speech comes the same week two senior aides appeared for interviews before the House Oversight Committee as part of the Republican-led panel’s intensifying investigation into the former president’s cognitive decline and possible efforts to conceal it from the public.
In his speech in Chicago, the former president joked about his age.
“I have the dubious distinction of being elected the youngest senator in American history and the oldest president in American history,” he said. “It’s hell turning 40 twice.”
The former president, who continues to undergo treatment for an aggressive form of prostate cancer, has kept a relatively low profile since leaving the White House, giving only a handful of speeches. He spends most of his time at his homes in Wilmington and Rehoboth Beach, Delaware, and is working on a forthcoming book.
As he closed out his speech, Biden encouraged Americans to “summon the courage” to stand up for what’s right.
“It means take the client who can’t write a big check, but needs protecting their basic fundamental rights. It means signing onto that brief that may draw the ire of people in power, but you know it’s the right thing to do,” he said. “It means standing firm against unconstitutional actions, designed to intimidate you. It means write the article, give the speech, lead the protest, defend the ideas your country is founded on, to protect your institutions, to fight for the soul of the nation.”
Former Biden adviser told House panel he was set to receive $8 million if president won reelection
Former senior Biden adviser Mike Donilon told the House Oversight Committee on Thursday that he was paid $4 million working on the former president’s 2024 campaign and was set to receive an additional $4 million if he was reelected, a source familiar with the matter told CNN.
While Donilon’s $4 million salary was first detailed in the book “Original Sin,” the possible $4 million additional payout for a Biden reelection victory was not previously known.
In his closed-door testimony to the committee Donilon defended former President Joe Biden’s fitness for office amid reports about his mental and physical decline during his time in the White House. “What I saw, day in and day out, was a leader who was deeply engaged and in command on critical issues, both at home and abroad,” according to a copy of Donilon’s opening statement obtained by CNN.
Donilon’s testimony to the committee comes as the Republican-led panel has interviewed Biden’s top White House aides this week as part of its intensifying investigation into the former president’s cognitive decline and possible efforts to conceal it from the public.
“I believed that President Biden was the best person to lead the country on the day he took the oath of office and I continued to believe that was true every day he served as President,” Donilon said in his statement.
CNN has reached out to Donilon for comment.
This week the committee also met with former Biden counselor Steve Ricchetti, who called the probe an “unprecedented effort” to intimidate the prior administration
Several Biden aides have declined to cooperate with the committee’s investigation and invoked their Fifth Amendment right against self-incrimination after being subpoenaed to appear.
Earlier this month, three Biden aides – White House physician Dr. Kevin O’Connor, former assistant to the president and senior adviser to the first lady Anthony Bernal and former assistant to the president and deputy chief of staff Annie Tomasini – who previously served as director of Oval Office Operations – pleaded the fifth in the face of questions from the panel.
Biden warns country is facing ‘dark days’ under Trump
Biden warns of “dark days” under Trump in Chicago speech
Former President Joe Biden issued one of his most pointed post‑White House critiques of Donald Trump during a July 31 speech to the National Bar Association in Chicago, warning that the United States is facing “dark days” for democracy, civil rights and the rule of law.
Speaking to an audience of roughly 1,100 Black judges, lawyers, and legal scholars, Biden did not mention Trump by name but left little doubt about his target. He accused the current administration of undermining judicial independence, dismantling safeguards for marginalized communities, and normalizing political retribution.
“I’ve seen dark times in America,” Biden said, “but what we’re living through now is different. It’s an assault from within.”
Biden reserved sharp criticism for what he described as a “complicit” Republican Congress and law firms that “bend to bullies” rather than defend constitutional principles. He urged the legal community to stand firm in defending voting rights, civil liberties, and an independent judiciary.
The speech came at a time when Trump is accelerating changes to the federal judiciary, directing the Justice Department to pursue political opponents and backing state‑level laws that roll back voting access and diversity initiatives. Biden framed the current moment as the most consequential test for American democracy since the civil rights movement.
While Biden has issued occasional public statements since leaving office, this was among his most sustained and urgent warnings about the direction of the country. It also builds on his farewell address earlier this year, in which he warned of the rise of oligarchic power, rampant disinformation, and the weakening of democratic institutions.
Biden closed by calling on his audience to “be the last line of defense” against an erosion of rights. “If the law doesn’t hold,” he said, “the rest will fall.”
Trump’s plan for White House ballroom sparks outrage from his critics
President Trump’s plans to add a massive $200 million ballroom to the White House is angering critics, who see him moving forward with the long-sought project as part of his desire to leave a lasting mark not only on the office of the presidency but the first house as well.
The construction of the ballroom, the cost of which the White House says will be covered by Trump and other donors, will begin in September.
Trump is also paving the White House Rose Garden (though the rose bushes will be saved), which the White House says is necessary so people can walk more easily for events held in the space.
And he’s added his personal gold touch to the Oval Office.
Trump says he sees the ballroom as a way to add to his legacy.
And while detractors say his decorative and more substantial changes are out of touch and ostentatious, he says they are necessary.
“I always said I was going to do something about the ballroom because they should have one,” he told reporters Thursday. “So we’ll be leaving it, it will be a great legacy project. And, I think it will be special.”
When asked if any government funds will be used to construct the 90,000 square foot facility, Trump replied, “no government dollars, no.”
The White House said the sprawling event space will be built adjacent to the White House where the East Wing sits.
The goal is to complete construction before the end of Trump’s term in January 2029. Trump’s vision is for a space where he and future presidents can host state dinners, large gatherings with business leaders and other ritzy parties or functions.
“We’ve been planning it for a long time,” Trump said. “They’ve wanted a ballroom at the White House for more than 150 years. There’s never been a president that was good at ballrooms. I’m really good.”
Democrats and regular Trump critics offered a sharp pushback on his plans.
“This is what DOGE was all about, folks,” Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) said in a video posted to social media hours after the White House announcement, referring to the president’s Department of Government Efficiency. “Cutting things from you, and giving it not to some place that needed it, giving it to the big shots who run the show, Donald Trump at the top of the list.”
Others suggested Trump and his White House were planting an intentional distraction.
“You gotta hand it to MAGAs, for about a week they really did have everyone convinced they cared about kids and The Epstein Files,” journalist and pundit Seth Abramson wrote on social platform X. “On to more important things! Did you hear Trump is building a $200M ballroom at the White House? Wowee!”
The White House pushed back on those criticisms in a Friday statement to The Hill, saying “as President Trump has said, for over 150 years, many presidents, administrations, and staff have all wanted a ballroom, and now we have a president who will accomplish building it.”
“President Trump is the best builder and developer in the entire world and the American people can rest well knowing that this project is in his hands,” a West Wing spokesperson said. “Many future presidents and American citizens will enjoy it for generations to come.”
The president, a longtime real estate mogul who is known for a hands-on approach in the design and construction of his resorts, golf courses and skyscraper office buildings, has long lamented the lack of sufficient event space at the White House.
“When it rains it’s a disaster, and the tent’s 100 yards, that’s more than a football field away from the main entrance,” Trump said as part of his remarks to the press about the project. “And people are shlopping down to the tent; it’s not a pretty sight. The women with their lovely evening gowns, their hair all done, and they’re a mess by the time they get [there].”
There is longstanding precedent for presidents and first ladies putting their spin on the White House and its grounds.
President Harry Truman oversaw a massive renovation from 1948 to 1952 that required he and his wife to move into the Blair House at the time and saw the White House completely gutted.
Former first lady Jackie Kennedy, however, championed the historic preservation of the home and advocated that extreme renovations require oversight from the Committee for the Preservation of the White House.
“Every president and first family does make a mark on the White House — they already are a part of history and that snapshot in time,” said Anita McBride, former chief of staff to then-first lady Laura Bush. “Since the cornerstone was laid, there have been additions, there have been changes that, at the time those happened, raised concerns.”
The White House Historical Association welcomed Trump’s planned ballroom.
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“The history of the White House has evolved over 233 years since the cornerstone was laid in 1792. The South Portico, the North Portico, the East Wing, the West Wing, and the Truman Balcony all raised concerns at the time — but today, we can’t imagine the White House without these iconic elements,” Stewart D. McLaurin, president of the association, told The Hill.
He added, “Since our founding by First Lady Jacqueline Kennedy in 1961, we have supported and partnered with every president and first lady caring for and adding to the White House and its Collection. We work to preserve the history of this remarkable museum, home, and office for generations to come.”
Some agree with the president that a bigger events space at the White House is long overdue.
“I can understand why someone who thinks on a grand scale, as obviously President Trump does, would want this ballroom added,” said Barbara Perry, a presidential historian and co-chair of the Presidential Oral History Program at the University of Virginia’s Miller Center. “That being said, the optics for people who disagree with this president, it will probably have an impact on how they view this.”
McBride agreed that the tents on the lawn, which have been constructed during more recent administrations, are not ideal.
“That doesn’t come without challenges, putting up staging, putting up a covered structure, getting people to the actual location; dealing with inclement weather. And you’re not really having your event in the White House,” she said. “So you can see where that makes sense.”
There are lingering questions about what the new ballroom location will mean for the staffers who work in the East Wing, which is where first lady’s staff works. The East Wing is also where tours of the White House for the public are conducted.
“Betty Ford always called the East Wing the ‘heart’ of the White House,” McBride said. “All the business and policy gets done in the West Wing, that’s critically important. But the heart of the White House is the East Wing. And so what, what will be the new East Wing?”
Others see the construction of an opulent addition to the president’s residence as a matter of bad timing and poor optics given sluggish jobs reports and fears about how global tariffs might hurt the U.S. economy.
“This isn’t something that’s going to make or break another election, but it does add another page to the catalog of hypocrisy that these people read from when they want to lecture Americans about fiscal responsibility,” said Antjuan Seawright, a Democratic political strategist. “It’s a visible middle finger to working class Americans, many of whom voted for him.”
‘What are we doing here?’: Democrats were shocked at Biden’s decline but stayed quiet, according to new book
In the final two years of his presidency, Joe Biden had private moments where he could not recall the names of top aides, had an increasingly limited private schedule, was prone to incoherence and losing his train of thought, and was hidden from the public eye to shield the extent of his decline, according to a new book from CNN’s Jake Tapper and Axios’ Alex Thompson.
The book details episode after episode where Democratic lawmakers, White House aides, members of Biden’s Cabinet and Democratic donors were shocked at Biden’s diminishing mental and physical capabilities while the president embarked on an ill-fated 2024 reelection bid. But nearly all did not speak out publicly or try to stop him from running.
“What the world saw at his one and only 2024 debate was not an anomaly. It was not a cold; it was not someone who was underprepared or overprepared. It was not someone who was just a little tired,” Tapper and Thompson write. “It was the natural result of an eighty-one-year-old man whose capabilities had been diminishing for years. Biden, his family, and his team let their self-interest and fear of another Trump term justify an attempt to put an at times addled old man in the Oval Office for four more years.”
The new book, “Original Sin: President Biden’s Decline, Its Cover-Up, and His Disastrous Choice to Run Again,” was released on Tuesday. The book is based on more than 200 interviews, mostly with Democratic insiders, almost all of which occurred after the 2024 election was over.
The focus on Biden’s age and health has intensified in recent days. On Sunday, Biden’s office said in a statement that the former president was diagnosed with an “aggressive form” of prostate cancer that has spread to his bones. The statement said Biden and his family “are reviewing treatment options with his physicians.”
The cancer diagnosis sparked an outpouring of support and well wishes for the former president, including from President Donald Trump, who posted on Truth Social: “Melania and I are saddened to hear about Joe Biden’s recent medical diagnosis. We extend our warmest and best wishes to Jill and the family, and we wish Joe a fast and successful recovery.”
But the debate about Biden’s choice to run for reelection has continued. Vice President JD Vance told reporters Monday that he wishes the best for Biden’s health but added that “we really do need to be honest about whether the former president was capable of doing the job.”
“In some ways I blame him less than I blame the people around him,” Vance said. “We can pray for good health but also recognize that if you’re not in good enough health to do the job, you shouldn’t be doing the job.”
On Friday, audio from Biden’s interview with special counsel Robert Hur over his handling of classified documents was published by Axios, adding context for why Hur’s report concluded Biden was “a sympathetic, well-meaning, elderly man with a poor memory.”
Top aides closed ranks
Tapper and Thompson report that concerns about Biden’s health from those working for him dated all the way back to 2020, but his mental and physical diminishment accelerated in 2023 and 2024 before his disastrous June debate with Donald Trump.
At one point in December 2022, Biden could not remember the names of his national security adviser, Jake Sullivan, and communications director, Kate Bedingfield, the authors write. In fall 2023, he did not appear to recognize Jamie Harrison, the chairman of the Democratic National Committee (Harrison disputes this). And in early 2024, Tapper and Thompson report that Biden did not recognize movie star George Clooney, whom Biden has known for years.
Some members of Biden’s Cabinet told Tapper and Thompson they did not believe Biden could be relied upon to perform at 2 a.m. if there was a national emergency.
“Things that would have been considered a disaster in 2023 — by 2024, we would have said, ‘Okay, we got through that,’” a top aide told the authors.
Tapper and Thompson write that Biden was protected by an insular group, including his wife, his son and a group of longtime aides nicknamed the “Politburo,” a reference to the leadership committee of a communist party.
Biden’s top aides — Mike Donilon, Steve Ricchetti and Bruce Reed — valued loyalty to the president. Those not in the inner circle, including campaign staff, pollsters and members of Biden’s Cabinet, believed the aides were protecting Biden from negative information as the president decided to run for reelection with no discussion or input from others in the White House or campaign, according to the book.
“It was a theology that bordered on zealotry: In January 2025, Donilon continued to hold the viewpoint that while Biden might forget and mix up names, when the president decided what the proposal should be for a peace deal between Hamas and Israel, he was pretty damn smart,” Tapper and Thompson write.
In a statement to CNN, a Biden spokesman criticized the book, saying: “We continue to await anything that shows where Joe Biden had to make a presidential decision or where national security was threatened or where he was unable to do his job. In fact, the evidence points to the opposite — he was a very effective president.”
“It was like a different person”
Tapper and Thompson found that concerns about Biden’s health issues dated back to his 2020 campaign. Biden shot campaign videos talking to voters on Zoom ahead of the convention but the hours of footage were largely unusable and stunned some on Biden’s team.
“It was like a different person. It was incredible. This was like watching Grandpa who shouldn’t be driving,” said one Democrat, according to the book. “I didn’t think he could be president.”
Some close to the president said Biden’s deterioration was tied to moments of intense stress, particularly with his son Hunter’s legal troubles, the authors write. One Cabinet secretary said Hunter’s June 2024 trial and conviction was “akin to a five-hundred-pound weight dropping on the president’s head,” Tapper and Thompson write.
Multiple lawmakers told the authors the Biden they saw reminded them of ailing parents and grandparents.
Publicly, questions swirled in 2024 about Biden’s health, fueled by the scathing report from Hur, who opted not to charge Biden for mishandling classified information in part because of how a jury would view his age.
Privately, Tapper and Thompson report Democrats were shocked at their interactions with Biden last year, both in closed-door meetings and donor gatherings. Democratic senators told the authors they saw a noticeable change in Biden during private meetings in early 2024, which they found alarming but gave their former colleague the benefit of the doubt.
One senior administration official angrily confronted a White House colleague after a meeting with Biden’s task force on reproductive health-care access. “What the f**k are you guys doing?” the official said. “I don’t get how this guy can do any campaigning to run for reelection.”
“Even though he did so many good things for this country, I can never forgive him,” the official told the authors after the election.
After Biden’s rousing March 2024 State of the Union speech — a performance many Democrats pointed to in justification he could run for reelection — some White House aides who didn’t normally get access to him were disturbed at his deteriorating condition when he addressed a room of high schoolers later that night and gave a rambling speech. One aide, the authors write, couldn’t help asking “what on earth they had just seen.”
“This isn’t going to work,” the aide thought, according to the book. “He can’t do it. This is crazy. Crazy. Crazy.”
Post-debate pressure
After Biden’s disastrous June debate with Trump, Tapper and Thompson report that Biden’s closest aides tried to move past the debacle as though nothing happened.
“If anything, the debate made Biden aides more watchful for signs of disloyalty,” the authors write. “They saw the debate as just the latest instance of counting Biden out.”
Behind the scenes, Democrats urged Biden’s inner circle to get the president out there in unscripted events. But the authors write that Biden “couldn’t do what folks were calling on him to do to prove his acuity.”
One campaign adviser recounted a post-debate discussion with Biden aboard Air Force One. “What are we doing here? the adviser thought as the president spoke. This guy can’t form a f**king sentence,” according to the book. “If I had a conversation like this with someone who wasn’t the president, I would be worried about his health. And here he is, the sitting president of the United States.”
As a growing number of Democrats called on Biden to step aside, the president and his family initially dug in. When Jill Biden visited Michigan on July 3, then-Sen. Debbie Stabenow offered a full-throated defense of the president. The senator asked for a minute with the first lady, telling her that his former Senate colleagues were worried about him.
“We don’t know if this was a onetime thing or if there’s something more going on with the president, Stabenow said to the First Lady. But you know,” the authors write. “The First Lady didn’t answer the senator’s implied question, but she later fumed about it to White House staffers.”
Biden and his wife defended his performance as president in a joint interview on ABC’s “The View” earlier this month, pushing back on suggestions he experienced cognitive decline in his final year in office.
“The people who wrote those books were not in the White House with us, and they didn’t see how hard Joe worked every single day,” Jill Biden said.
Former President Barack Obama and then-Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer were both concerned that Biden’s top aides were not giving the president the unvarnished data he needed to see how dire his reelection chances were, the authors write. Obama told Schumer he should talk to Biden and bring the data.
White House Chief of Staff Jeff Zients kept it to himself but thought that Biden should drop out after the debate, Tapper and Thompson report. Zients tried to set up a meeting for Biden to get the data directly from his pollsters, but the president tested positive for Covid that week and had to isolate, so the pollsters instead just briefed Biden’s senior staff.
In the leadup to Biden’s July 2024 decision to exit the race, Schumer insisted on meeting with the president and traveled to Delaware for the difficult conversation. The authors write that Schumer told Biden that he would only get five votes if there was a secret ballot of Senate Democrats on whether he should keep running.
Schumer warned him that he wasn’t “getting the information as to what the chances are” and spoke to Biden’s legacy, the authors write. If there was a Democratic wipeout, Schumer warned that Biden would “go down in American history as one of the darkest figures.”
“Do you think Kamala can win?” Biden asked Schumer.
“I don’t know if she can win,” Schumer responded, according to the book. “I just know that you cannot.”
