Biden Says Obama Offered Financial Support During Son’s Illness

Pablo Martinez Monsivais/AP


In an emotional interview with CNN’s Gloria Borger, Vice President Joe Biden on Monday revealed that President Barack Obama once offered to help him financially amid mounting concerns over his late son Beau’s health.

The offer, Biden says, was made during one of their weekly lunch meetings, in which he told the president that he and his wife were contemplating selling their house to help Beau’s family in case he was forced to resign as Delaware’s attorney general.

“He got up and he said, ‘Don’t sell that house. Promise me you won’t sell the house,'” Biden told Borger, who had asked Biden to reveal a moment he would remember ahead of Obama’s final State of the Union on Tuesday. “He said, ‘I’ll give you the money. Whatever you need, I’ll give you the money. Don’t, Joe—promise me. Promise me.’ I said, ‘I don’t think we’re going to have to anyway.’ He said, ‘Promise me.'”

“And then I’ll never forget the eulogy he delivered for Beau.”

Beau ultimately ended up being able to serve the rest of his second term as attorney general. He died in May from brain cancer.

The headline of this post has been updated. 

Fact:

Mother Jones was founded as a nonprofit in 1976 because we knew corporations and billionaires wouldn't fund the type of hard-hitting journalism we set out to do.

Today, reader support makes up about two-thirds of our budget, allows us to dig deep on stories that matter, and lets us keep our reporting free for everyone. If you value what you get from Mother Jones, please join us with a tax-deductible donation today so we can keep on doing the type of journalism 2024 demands.

payment methods

Fact:

Today, reader support makes up about two-thirds of our budget, allows us to dig deep on stories that matter, and lets us keep our reporting free for everyone. If you value what you get from Mother Jones, please join us with a tax-deductible donation today so we can keep on doing the type of journalism 2024 demands.

payment methods

We Recommend

Latest

Sign up for our free newsletter

Subscribe to the Mother Jones Daily to have our top stories delivered directly to your inbox.

Get our award-winning magazine

Save big on a full year of investigations, ideas, and insights.

Subscribe

Support our journalism

Help Mother Jones' reporters dig deep with a tax-deductible donation.

Donate