WASHINGTON (AP) — Jill Biden is breaking her silence about Joe Biden's decision to abruptly end his 2024 presidential reelection bid under pressure from Democrats concerned about his age, health and viability against Republican Donald Trump in a rematch of their 2020 campaign.
A political spouse for nearly 50 years, Jill Biden said she has never publicly discussed her feelings about the three-week stretch when her husband ended his political career, instead saving her thoughts for the pages of her soon-to-be-released memoir.
Gallery Books, an imprint of Simon & Schuster, on Wednesday announced that her book, “View from the East Wing: A Memoir,” is scheduled to be published June 2.
Jill Biden told The Associated Press in a brief telephone interview that the book is a “reflection of my four years as first lady” and that writing it was somewhat healing.
“It was kind of cathartic for me to write it, and I wrote about all the, you know, sometimes painful — but other times, most of it really beautiful moments that Joe and I shared during his presidency,” she said.
Jill Biden declined on Tuesday to discuss any of those moments, good or bad — including watching her husband work his way to the decision to end his five-decade-long political career by dropping out of the 2024 presidential race.
In an announcement video shared on Instagram, she said she wants to “set the record straight.”
In April 2023, then-President Joe Biden was 80 and the oldest president in U.S. history when he announced he was running for a second term. His age and fitness to serve another four years — which would take him to age 86 — became a source of concern for the public. Some fellow Democrats began to pressure him to step aside after he turned in a disastrous debate performance against Trump in June 2024 in which he struggled, in a raspy voice, to land his debating points and often appeared to lose his train of thought. Aides blamed the poor performance on a cold.
Joe Biden at first insisted that he would stay in the race, but after a few weeks he withdrew from the campaign and endorsed Democrat Kamala Harris, his vice president. Harris became the party’s presidential nominee but lost to Trump in the November 2024 election.
Jill Biden said that, with the book, “I have put things in perspective,” presenting what she describes as a “more balanced view” of her husband's time as president.
The memoir is also a tribute of the sorts to women who, like herself, juggle multiple roles.
“It's also a story about my being able to balance life, you know, as a working woman and as a mother, a grandmother, a first lady,” she said.
During her four years in the role, Jill Biden, 74, made history as the first first lady to continue the career she had before entering the White House. She had taught English and writing for decades at the community college level, and she continued teaching twice a week at a Northern Virginia school while serving as first lady.
The former president's office announced in May 2025 that he was diagnosed with an aggressive form of prostate cancer and that it had spread to his bones. He's receiving treatment.
Jill Biden said it was “quite a shock getting the diagnosis” for her husband, who's now 83.
“The fact that it is in his bones means that he will have cancer, you know, all his lifetime,” Jill Biden said. She said the doctors say he will “live out his natural life.”
“Like most retired couples, he'll probably drive me crazy till the end of it,” she joked.
She said he visits Washington at least once a week for meetings or to give speeches.
The former first lady also writes in the book about serving during a unique period in U.S. history, including the COVID-19 pandemic and the aftermath of the insurrection at the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, according to the publisher.
Her husband was sworn into office on the steps of the Capitol on Jan. 20, 2021, just two weeks after a mob of Trump supporters, spurred by his false claims that the Republican lost because of election fraud, stormed the building in a violent attempt to keep lawmakers from certifying Joe Biden's victory.
Joe Biden's first year in office was dominated by the federal response to the pandemic and, while he mostly stayed at the White House, Jill Biden wore face mask and traveled around the country to encourage people to get their vaccinations. She also continued her advocacy on behalf of military families, education and community colleges, cancer prevention and women's health initiatives.
Before she became first lady, Jill Biden was second lady of the United States from 2009 to 2017, when her husband was Barack Obama's vice president. She currently chairs the Milken Institute's Women's Health Network.
Jill Biden is also the author of “Where the Light Enters,” published in 2019, in which she writes about meeting Joe Biden, then a U.S. senator from Delaware, and marrying and building a life with him. She also has written three children's books.
Follow the AP's coverage of Jill Biden at https://apnews.com/hub/jill-biden.
FILE - President Joe Biden and first lady Jill Biden arrive on the South Lawn of the White House, Jan. 23, 2023, in Washington. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci, File)
First lady Jill Biden speaks at the Democratic National Committee's Holiday Reception at Willard Hotel in Washington, Dec. 15, 2024. (AP Photo/Jose Luis Magana, File)
FILE - First lady Jill Biden speaks during the first day of Democratic National Convention, Aug. 19, 2024, in Chicago. (AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin, File)
PARIS (AP) — The International Energy Agency agreed Wednesday to release the largest volume of emergency oil reserves in its history, in a bid to counter the effects on energy markets of the war in the Middle East.
The Paris-based organization said it will make 400 million barrels of oil available from its members’ emergency reserves. It’s a larger stock than the 182.7 million barrels that were released in 2022 by the IEA's 32 member countries in response to Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine.
“Without sufficient routes to market and with no more available storage, Middle East oil producers have started to reduce production," IEA executive director Fatih Birol said. "And we have seen further attacks and damage to energy and energy-related infrastructure. Refinery operations have also been disrupted, with major implications for jet fuel and diesel supplies in particular.”
IEA member countries currently hold over 1.2 billion barrels of public emergency oil stocks, with a further 600 million barrels of industry stocks held under government obligation.
In response to U.S. and Israeli strikes, Iran has attacked commercial ships across the Persian Gulf, escalating a campaign of squeezing the oil-rich region as global energy concerns mount.
Iran has effectively stopped cargo traffic in the narrow Strait of Hormuz through which about a fifth of all oil is shipped from the Persian Gulf toward the Indian Ocean. It has also targeted oil fields and refineries in Gulf Arab nations, aiming at generating enough global economic pain to pressure the United States and Israel to end their strikes.
Germany and Austria said earlier Wednesday they would release parts of their oil reserves following an IEA request for members to release the record 400 million barrels to help temper energy price spikes due to the Iran war. Japan also said it will release some of its reserves starting Monday.
Group of Seven energy ministers met Tuesday at IEA headquarters in Paris to look at ways to bring down prices. Birol said afterward that they discussed all available options, including making IEA emergency oil stocks available to the market.
The IEA reserves were established in 1974 following the Arab oil embargo.
“This is a major action aiming to alleviate the immediate impacts of the disruption in markets,” Birol added. "But, to be clear, the most important thing for a return to stable flows of oil and gas is the resumption of transit through the Strait of Hormuz.”
The G7 is comprised of the leading industrialized nations of Canada, the United States, France, Italy, Japan, Germany and Britain. Austria is not a member.
The group's leaders, including U.S. President Donald Trump, met Wednesday via videoconference to discuss energy issues.
During his introductory remarks, French President Emmanuel Macron praised the IEA decision to release emergency oil stocks, saying it amounted to the equivalent of “20 days of the volume being exported through the Strait of Hormuz." The amount being released by G7 nations, alone, comprises 70% of the total, he said.
“I think it’s very important to see as well everything we can do in order to increase our global production,” Macron added.
Germany's economy ministry, Katherina Reiche, said the IEA asked Germany to release 2.64 million tons of its oil reserves. It was not immediately clear how much Austria was releasing.
She said it would take a couple of days before the delivery of the first quantities.
“Germany stands behind the IEA’s most important principle of mutual solidarity," Reiche said.
The G7 energy ministers announced Tuesday that they supported in principle “the implementation of proactive measures to address the situation, including the use of strategic reserves.”
According to the IEA, export volumes of crude and refined products are currently at less than 10% of prewar levels.
Austrian Economy Minister Wolfgang Hattmannsdorfer said his country was releasing part of the emergency oil reserve and extending the national strategic gas reserve, adding: “One thing is clear: in a crisis, there must be no crisis winners at the expense of commuters and businesses.”
The German government also said it will introduce a measure to allow gas stations in Germany to raise fuel prices no more than once a day. The federal government wants to introduce this as quickly as possible, Reiche said.
In Austria, starting Monday, price increases at gas stations will be allowed only three times a week, the country’s economy minister said.
IEA nations have released emergency stocks on five previous occasions: During the 1990-1991 Gulf War, after Hurricane Katrina in 2005, during the Libyan civil war in 2011, and twice after the Russian invasion of Ukraine.
Grieshaber reported from Berlin. Associated Press reporters John Leicester and Sylvie Corbet in Paris contributed to this report.
Big oil tanks are pictured in front the BP refinery in Gelsenkirchen, one of the biggest fuel producers in Germany, Wednesday, March 11, 2026. (AP Photo/Martin Meissner)
Big oil tanks are pictured in front of the BP refinery in Gelsenkirchen, one of the biggest fuel producers in Germany, Wednesday, March 11, 2026. (AP Photo/Martin Meissner)
FILE - Fishermen work in front of oil tankers south of the Strait of Hormuz Jan. 19, 2012, offshore the town of Ras Al Khaimah in United Arab Emirates. (AP Photo/Kamran Jebreili, File)
Smoke rises from a building following an Israeli airstrike in Dahiyeh, Beirut's southern suburb, Wednesday, March 11, 2026. (AP Photo/Hassan Ammar)
Signs show the gas prices at a gas station, Tuesday, March 10, 2026, in New York. (AP Photo/Yuki Iwamura)
