Joe Biden Insists He Would Have Resigned From Presidency If He'd Known About Cancer Diagnosis While in White House
Joe Biden sat down for his only interview to promote his book.
Nov. 11 2026, Published 2:25 p.m. ET
Joe Biden dropped the bombshell revelation that if his cancer had been discovered during his final year in the White House, he would have resigned as president, RadarOnline.com can reveal.
The 83-year-old was diagnosed with aggressive stage 4 metastatic prostate cancer in May 2025, four months after leaving office, and said he wouldn't have mounted a 2024 re-election campaign knowing he had the disease.
'I Would Have Resigned'
Joe Biden insisted he would have resigned if he found out he had cancer while still president.
Ahead of the November 17 release of his presidential memoir, Promise Me America, Biden sat down with a publication for what will be his only interview in promotion of the book, which took place at his longtime home in Wilmington, Delaware.
When asked, "In hindsight, looking at the 2024 election, is there anything you would’ve done differently?" the 46th president gave a curious response that didn't involve his battle against Republican Donald Trump and the disastrous June 2024 debate debacle that caused him to drop out of the race and support Vice President Kamala Harris running in his place.
"What I can’t say, because there’s no evidence of it – if I had known that I was feeling lousy because I had cancer, I would have resigned," Biden told the outlet.
'I Don't Think An 80-Year-Old Man With Cancer Should Be Running' for President
Joe Biden insisted he was the best person for the job even though he was unaware he had cancer.
Biden stood firm that even though he wasn't feeling his best, he didn't know he had cancer and completed his first and only term.
"I would've not gone forward, because I don't think an 80-year-old man with cancer should be running for [president]. But that wasn't the case ... I believe that on an objective basis, I was the best-equipped person to do the job," the Scranton, Pennsylvania native stated about remaining in the Oval Office.
Routine prostate cancer screenings are generally not recommended for men over 70, but Biden questioned whether his age should have prevented him from receiving additional testing, writing in his memoir, "I was treated no differently from any other 82-year-old man in America. Maybe I should have been."
Joe Biden Claims He Had No Signs of Cancer Except 'Recurring Pain'
Joe Biden said wife Jill questioned why men in their 70s aren't tested for prostate cancer.
Biden also rushed to defend his White House medical team for failing to detect his advanced prostate cancer, which had metastasized to his bones, sooner, insisting his doctors were simply following standard medical guidelines despite his recurring physical discomfort.
"Look, White House doctors are doing what the whole entire medical profession is doing ... I had some discomfort, and Jill thought, 'Why isn’t that test done for men who are in their 70s?' And there wasn’t any particular [sign] except recurring pain."
Biden also said that although the disease wasn't detected while he was still a sitting president, it didn't interfere with his job performance.
"First of all, I never felt the toll. I read [others] like Harry Truman talk about [how] it’s the most difficult job in the world. I didn’t find it that way. And so I, quite frankly, found that it didn’t in any way interfere with my job," he told the magazine.
Joe Biden Insists He 'Wasn't Hiding' His Cancer Diagnosis
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The politician called it a 'cynical twist' that some people believed he was hiding a cancer diagnosis while president.
Biden also fired back at critics who accused him of covering up his cancer diagnosis while serving in the White House, blasting the allegations as a "cynical twist" in his new memoir.
The former president insisted he came clean with the American people as soon as he learned the devastating truth about his health.
"A lot of people do that. They hide bad news from the public if they’re elected officials. I didn't do that. We let the public know when I found out, when I knew what was going on. I think it’s important for a national leader, as president, to let people know they go through some of the very same things that a lot of American people are going through...I wasn't hiding it at all," he explained.
