Joe Biden blanking George Clooney is just one of many shocking anecdotes included in Original Sin: President Biden’s Decline, Its Cover-Up, and His Disastrous Choice to Run Again – a bombshell new book about the final months of the 46th US president's administration. So what does this shocking behind-the-scenes story mean for Mr Biden’s political legacy and indeed, the Democratic Party itself?
Host: Ellen Coyne | Guests: Lorcan Nyhan (Head of Training at the Communications Clinic) and Scott Lucas (Professor of International Politics at the Clinton Institute at UCD)
It was in June of last year at a Hollywood fundraiser where a former US President is said to have blanked a man he has known for nearly two decades. “You know George, George Clooney,” an aide told Joe Biden – who had failed to recognise one of the most famous faces in the world.
This shocking anecdote is one of many included in Original Sin: President Biden’s Decline, Its Cover-Up, and His Disastrous Choice to Run Again – the new bombshell book about the final months of Joe Biden’s administration.
The book has landed at an especially tough juncture for the 82-year-old, following his recently announced diagnosis of an aggressive form of prostate cancer. And while authors Jake Tapper and Alex Thompson have faced some criticism for the timing – their work exposes concerted efforts to cocoon both the president and the American people from his very clear decline.
Ellen Coyne is joined by Lorcan Nyhan and Scott Lucas to ask whether this shocking behind-the-scenes story could destroy Biden’s political legacy and indeed, the Democratic Party itself?

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