Bill Clinton denied that he witnessed evidence of a cognitive or physical decline in his fellow former president, Joe Biden, after new details emerged about efforts by the White House to keep the matter under wraps.

In an interview with “CBS Sunday Morning,” correspondent Tracy Smith brought up “Original Sin: President Biden’s Decline, Its Cover-Up, and His Disastrous Choice to Run Again,” a recently-published book by CNN’s Jake Tapper and Axios reporter Alex Thompson.

The book “talks about Joe Biden and the people around him seeing that he had cognitive and physical decline. Did you ever have a moment with him where you thought maybe he was unfit to run for president?” Smith asked.

“No,” the 78-year-old Clinton said. “I thought he was a good president. The only concern I thought he had to deal with was, could anybody do that job until they were 86?” Clinton said. “And we did several long talks. I had never seen him and walked away thinking, He can’t do this anymore. He was always on top of his briefs.”

Bill Clinton says he never saw anything to point to Biden being in cognitive decline. He thought Biden was in perfect shape and sharp as a tack.

If only there were signs… pic.twitter.com/LVSUfDCphg

— Libs of TikTok (@libsoftiktok) June 1, 2025

Biden embarked on a campaign for re-election, but dropped out under pressure from allies concerned about his mental capacity, age, and electability following a fumbling debate performance against now-President Trump — who ended up winning a second term in a match-up against Vice President Kamala Harris in the 2024 election.

Pressed again, Clinton added, “No. So, I didn’t know anything about any of this. And I haven’t read the book. And I saw President Biden not very long ago, and I thought he was in good shape. But the book didn’t register with me ’cause I never saw him that way.”

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Clinton said he “didn’t want to” read the book because Biden is “not president anymore, and I think he did a good job. And I think we are facing challenges today without precedent in our history. And some people are trying to use this as a way to blame him for the fact that Trump was re-elected.”

Republicans in Congress are now looking into any efforts to cover up Biden’s condition during his single term as president. House Oversight Chairman James Comer (R-KY) has demanded testimony from Biden’s doctor and former White House aides. It was recently disclosed that Biden is fighting an “aggressive form” of prostate cancer, raising questions about the timing of the announcement.

Biden issued a defiant response when confronted about the controversy over his mental and physical health while in office. “You can see that I’m mentally incompetent and I can’t walk, and I can beat the hell out of both of them,” he said, apparently referencing Tapper and Thompson.

The Israeli military and a Gaza aid foundation have refuted allegations that Israel’s military killed dozens of Palestinian civilians in an attack near an aid center over the weekend.

The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) and Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF) have denied reports of Palestinian deaths from officials at the Gaza Health Ministry, a Hamas-run agency. In a statement, the military cautioned against news outlets uncritically publishing data from the terrorist-controlled health ministry.

“False reports have been spread [i]n recent hours, including serious allegations against the IDF regarding fire toward Gazan residents in the area of the humanitarian aid distribution site in Gaza. Findings from an initial inquiry indicate that the IDF did not fire at civilians while they were near or within the humanitarian aid distribution site and that reports to this effect are false,” the military said in a statement.

“The IDF is cooperating with the GHF and international aid organizations in order to enable the distribution of aid to Gazan residents — and not to Hamas,” the statement continued. “The IDF calls on the media to be cautious with information published by the Hamas terrorist organization, as proven in many previous incidents.”

False reports have been spread In recent hours, including serious allegations against the IDF regarding fire toward Gazan residents in the area of the humanitarian aid distribution site in Gaza.

Findings from an initial inquiry indicate that 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗜𝗗𝗙 𝗱𝗶𝗱 𝗻𝗼𝘁 𝗳𝗶𝗿𝗲…

— Israel Defense Forces (@IDF) June 1, 2025

The Gaza Health Ministry’s claims of killed and injured civilians have been echoed across media reports. The Gaza Humanitarian Foundation, which runs the site at which the attack was claimed to have taken place, denied the claims.

“There was no gunfire in the center and also not in the surrounding area,” the foundation said in a statement, according to CNN. “All aid was distributed today without incident. We have heard that these fake reports have been actively fomented by Hamas. They are untrue and fabricated.”

According to videos released by the foundation, the aid site was uneventful on Sunday morning when the Israeli attack was said to have taken place. One video showed hundreds of Palestinians running to the aid center at dawn. Another showed several bursts of tracer fire in the distance, but no other evidence of military action otherwise.

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The Gaza Health Ministry claimed that the Israeli military carried out a strike against Palestinian civilians going to retrieve food and supplies from the aid station on Sunday. The Hamas-run agency said that at least 31 Palestinians were killed and dozens more were wounded.

The Red Cross said it received 179 casualties at a station near Rafah, with 21 of those declared dead on arrival. The group said that “[a]ll patients said they had been trying to reach an aid distribution site,” according to the Associated Press.

The Red Cross has faced criticism over its role in the Israel-Hamas war, most prominently over the aid group’s inability to get meaningful aid to any of the 251 hostages taken by Hamas and Palestinian terror supporters on October 7, 2023. The aid group also failed to monitor the hostages or provide updates on their welfare.