Welcome to Thursday’s edition of Washington Secrets. We have all the chat from last night’s love-in with Jill Biden, and a key Republican leader shrugs off last night’s war powers vote.
When Jill Biden took the stage in Washington on Wednesday evening to discuss her new memoir, she knew she was in for an easy ride, waving to friends and colleagues as she sat down.
Quite how easy only became clear when Paola Ramos, an MS Now contributor who once worked for Biden, asked her first question.
“My gosh,” she said, trying to quiet the thunderous applause. “I wonder if they even know that it’s your birthday?”
The questions only became softer from there.
Even so, she still managed to stoke a growing feud within the Democratic Party by claiming she had always been honest about her husband’s ability to do the job, and by describing the immediate aftermath of that wreck of a debate in 2024, which ended any chance he had of contesting the election.
The audience lapped up every word.
It was not surprising, given that they were Biden supporters to a woman. Or they were people who worked with the former first lady.
Biden pointed and waved to staff she had known from her office in the East Wing, or former colleagues from Northern Virginia Community College, where she taught English.
And she saved special greetings for Hedieh Ghaffarian, the chief floral designer at the White House.
“I don’t want to get you in trouble, but Hedieh does like incredible, incredible beautiful flowers,” said Biden. “And some days when I’d have a bad day, I’d walk into my bedroom, and there would be like a bouquet that just took my breath away, and you made life so much better for me.
“Hedieh, I love you.”
Let’s hope the Trumps — her current employers — weren’t watching the livestream from the sold-out event at the Sixth and I Synagogue in Washington.
Yet beyond the love-in, there were moments of real candor.
Ramos described working in Biden’s office in 2010 and 2011, before asking whether it had all been worth it: “Knowing everything that you now know, knowing the way in which things unfolded in 2024, knowing all of the pain that you carried, and particularly that summer, would you still choose the same path forward?”
No, came the emphatic answer.
“It was so painful,” she said. “What Joe and I went through in 2024 when he left the race, and I have to say it wasn’t for me and for Joe that I felt the pain. It was for our children.”
The main purpose of the event was to sell books and, of course, airbrush the former first lady’s legacy. But she also made news, clapping back at Andrew Bates, her husband’s former spokesman, who said this was not the time to be reopening wounds from the 2024 campaign.
She said there was only one chapter on the pain of the end of the campaign, but many more about the life of a first lady.
“So I want to say to Andrew, call me up and say it to my face, buddy,” she said.
There were other interesting nuggets. Her husband still talks to Kamala Harris, despite clear hints in the book about tension between the two in 2024.
“I mean, she called Joe the other day,” said Biden. “I mean, they’re still friends, you know? They talk.”
A single thread ran through the evening, just as it runs through her book. How much did she know about her husband’s decline, and did she cover it up?
Ramos touched on it ever so delicately towards the end of their conversation, asking about the role of first lady and whether love could have blinded her to her husband’s shortcomings.
“Well, you know, I love Joe. He’s the love of my life,” she said. “But would I lie for him? No. I mean that goes to the essence of who I am as a person.”
With her key message delivered, there was just time for a chorus of “Happy Birthday.”
Rep. Houchin: No news in Iran vote
Secrets had breakfast with Rep. Erin Houchin (R-IN) on Thursday morning. She holds a position in party leadership as House Conference Secretary.
She played down the significance of Wednesday’s vote when the House passed a resolution to block President Donald Trump from ordering further strikes on Iran. Four Republicans sided with Democrats.
Houchin said it still had to go to the Senate before shrugging off the actions of a small number of Republicans.
“I don’t see this as any news that the Democrats and a few House Republicans might vote the way they did,” she said. “My view is that we need to allow the president and his team to operate in a manner that they need to to get the job done, and we don’t want to have another Afghanistan.”
Lunchtime reading
Amid war, Iran’s soccer leader works to get his team to the World Cup: Iran has already been forced to switch its base from American soil to Mexico. Now Mehdi Taj says the team still doesn’t have visas … with the first game just 11 days away.
Which party will recover first from its current self-harm? Michael Barone says this week’s primaries show Democrats and Republicans are intent on fighting the same old battles.
You are reading Washington Secrets, a guide to power and politics in D.C. and beyond. It is written by Rob Crilly, who you can reach at [email protected] with your comments, story tips, and suggestions. If a friend sent you this and you’d like to sign up, click here.