Overview

• The six-page memo, dated April 15, 2024, urged Biden to hold a spring debate with Trump to reach the widest audience before summer distractions
• Advisers recommended scheduling two debates and building out intensive multi-day prep sessions at Camp David modeled on State of the Union rehearsals
• Internal dissent surfaced when some advisers and a key donor privately urged Biden to delay or skip debates after a faltering appearance at a Chicago fundraiser
• Biden’s June 27, 2024 debate performance was widely deemed disastrous and directly led to his withdrawal and Kamala Harris’s elevation as the Democratic nominee
• Excerpts published July 7 by Politico preview the forthcoming book “2024: How Trump Retook the White House and the Democrats Lost America,” renewing analysis of the campaign’s strategic choices