Jill Biden tells memoir critic, 'Say it to my face, buddy'

Former first lady Jill Biden pushed back on Democratic critics of her memoir who say the book needlessly dredges up controversies from the 2024 election.

Biden made the comment during an event promoting her book, "View from the East Wing," in New York City on Wednesday. She was asked specifically about comments from former Biden White House spokesman Andrew Bates, who said of her book, "I don’t see why that painful conversation for the party needed to be publicly reopened right now," according to the New York Post.

"I want to say to Andrew: Call me up, and say it to my face, buddy," Biden responded, going on to argue that her book had only "one chapter on politics."

Biden then discussed the 2024 election more generally, touching on everything from former President Joe Biden's disastrous debate performance that June to her own thoughts about the aging president's decision to run again.

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Jill Biden has done numerous interviews about her new book, which was released on Tuesday. (Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images)

She argued she would have been honest with her husband had she seen his condition prior to the debate, but she said she wasn't there for his debate preparations.

"I was out campaigning," she said. "So I didn’t see him at debate camp at Camp David."

"I never wanted to see that moment again in my life but since I’ve been doing press for two days, they’re like, ‘Watch this clip,’" she said.

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Former President Joe Biden speaks with moderator Jake Tapper as former first lady Dr. Jill Biden looks on after a presidential debate with Donald Trump in Atlanta, Ga., on June 27, 2024. (Brian Snyder/Reuters)

"I saw Joe aging. My God, we all saw him aging," she admitted.

Her comments came just a day after she made headlines during an interview on "The View" where she acknowledged that her husband would not have been able to serve another four years.

First Lady Jill Biden speaks during a Fourth of July event on the South Lawn of the White House in Washington, D.C., on July 4, 2024. (Samuel Corum/Getty Images)

"The View" co-host Alyssa Farah Griffin asked Jill Biden if she thought her husband would have been in a good place to serve another four years in the White House.

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"Well, not from what I know now," Biden said. "My God. Who knew? It was so shocking to get that cancer diagnosis. I mean, we had, you know, here I was, I’m looking through travel magazines like, ‘Oh, where are we going to go? What are we going to do,’ and then we get this cancer diagnosis and I think, what am I doing? Like, our whole life has changed now. It was just shocking."