Former Meet the Press moderator Chuck Todd has leveled an explosive accusation against Joe Biden’s inner circle, claiming they deliberately orchestrated the president’s catastrophic June 28, 2024, debate performance to force him out of the race. Todd said on the June 20, 2025, episode of The Chuck ToddCast that he will “go to his grave” believing the sabotage theory, adding a new layer to the ongoing debate over how Biden’s cognitive decline was handled.
A Conspiracy Too Convenient to Dismiss
Speaking with The Atlantic’s Mark Leibovich, Todd fully endorsed the idea that Biden’s campaign operatives — including Anita Dunn and Jen O’Malley Dillon — may have purposefully exposed the president’s struggles on a national stage. Todd acknowledged that such figures would naturally deny involvement, drawing a parallel to enduring suspicions about who delayed the release of American hostages until Jan. 20 during the Reagan transition. That matter, he noted, has never been officially confirmed and likely never will be, yet the circumstances remain too convenient to dismiss as mere coincidence.
Leibovich raised the theory that certain insiders believed creating visible “daylight” around Biden’s condition would serve a useful purpose, since private conversations were going nowhere. Todd agreed, arguing that based on reporting from Jake Tapper and Alex Thompson in their book, Biden’s inner circle was never going to voluntarily acknowledge the president’s decline. The only path to forcing a change, he suggested, was putting the reality in front of the entire country at once, live and unfiltered. Leibovich noted that 80 percent of the country had already sensed what was happening well before the debate stage made it undeniable.
Media Coverage Under Fresh Scrutiny
Todd defended his profession against claims of a coverup, arguing that reporters had flagged observable signs such as Biden’s use of a shorter staircase and his near-total avoidance of interviews. Simply noting those details, he said, amounted to transparency. Leibovich pressed back gently, pointing out that the pattern was visible enough to constitute an intuitive public truth long before anyone in power admitted it.
Todd acknowledged he could have been more aggressive in connecting the dots, particularly around Biden’s refusal to sit for interviews, but said he felt constrained by the professional standard of not speculating about a public figure’s health without direct sourcing. The tension around media coverage of Biden’s condition continues to reverberate inside major newsrooms more than a year after the debate itself.
Democrats Still Avoiding the Obvious
Todd saved some of his sharpest criticism for Democratic politicians who continue to dodge straightforward questions about whether Biden should have run at all. He cited Chuck Schumer as an example of a prominent Democrat who has avoided answering what Todd called a laughably easy question. He said he has had similar off-the-record conversations with multiple governors and senators, none of whom would say publicly what they apparently acknowledge in private.
The political fallout, Todd suggested, extends well beyond Biden himself. He argued that any Democrat closely tied to the Biden administration carries real baggage heading into future cycles, specifically naming Pete Buttigieg as someone whose proximity to Biden could complicate any future national ambitions — even for a figure who might otherwise be considered a top-tier contender.
From Panic to Pointed Theory
In the immediate aftermath of the June 28, 2024, debate, Todd described Democrats as being in full-on panic — and he warned publicly that it was going to be a long summer. Nearly one year later, his commentary has only grown more pointed. What was once cautious political analysis has evolved into a full-throated theory about intentional sabotage — one Todd readily acknowledges may never be proven.
Todd essentially endorsed the alleged strategy even while acknowledging its murky ethics. He compared the prospect of ever getting a confession to waiting for deathbed memoirs, suggesting the truth, if there is one, will arrive long after the political stakes have faded. For now, the debate over who knew what — and who did what about it — remains very much alive, fueled in no small part by Todd himself.
Sources: Mediaite · Fox News · NBC News · NBC News
