What did Maggie Goodlander know and when did she know it?
When the longtime D.C. insider rented an apartment in the Second Congressional District last spring to run for Congress, Goodlander did so as a stalwart supporter of President Joe Biden. And why wouldn’t she? She worked in the Biden administration, and her husband, Jake Sullivan, was serving as Biden’s National Security Advisor, meeting with him on a regular basis during the four years of his presidency.
The couple even attended a White House state dinner hosted by the Bidens.
Which makes reports that Biden couldn’t remember Sullivan’s name particularly embarrassing.
According to revelations in a new book about Biden’s mental decline while in office, Biden repeatedly referred to Sullivan as “Steve” during a December 2022 Oval Office meeting. As the NY Post reports:
“Steve,” he beckoned to his national security adviser, Jake Sullivan, after announcing the US had secured the release of WNBA star Brittney Griner from a Russian prison in exchange for the notorious arms dealer Viktor Bout. “Steve,” the president asked again, trying to call him into an Oval Office meeting.
That anecdote is just one of many that have come to light over the past month as new books about the Biden presidency have rolled out. He didn’t recognize movie star George Clooney, and his staffers worried that he didn’t have the mental or physical stamina to deal with a crisis late at night.
The revelations have inspired some prominent Democrats, like 2026 potential presidential candidate Rep. Ro Khanna (D-Calif), to admit they made a mistake by backing Biden.
“In my few interactions at public events, I found him coherent and proud of his record, but it is now painfully obvious he should not have run,” Khanna said. “We should have had an open primary. We must acknowledge this truth to regain trust with the American people.”
Not Maggie Goodlander.
National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan and President Joe Biden at the White House.
(CREDIT: White House Archives/Flickr)
Goodlander supported Biden while he was the nominee, telling her husband she “felt the urge to secretly record” Biden during a phone call he had with Sullivan, because she believed it would convince people he was the true commander in chief.
Even after Biden was forced out of the 2024 race by Democrats concerned about his age and acuity, Goodlander insisted he was still fit to serve.
“The president’s decision not to seek reelection has nothing to do with his competency to be president today, and it was entirely his prerogative,” Goodlander said on the Jack Heath radio show in August 2024. “And I think what he did was an act of patriotism and statesmanship.”
And she denied that Biden was bounced from the race by his fellow Democrats.
“What we saw from President Biden was a willful decision to pass the baton on his own; it was his prerogative. It was his decision to make… and I think he’s a patriot for having done it,” Goodlander told Heath.
And on WMUR, Goodlander took her lavish praise of Biden to the next level, comparing him to George Washington.
“You don’t often see politicians who have been in American public life for as long as he has give up power. I think George Washington is a great example. We didn’t have an amendment to our Constitution then that limited the terms of a president. And President Washington passed off the baton. And I think that President Biden has made a decision that he saw fit for this country, and I admire him for that.”
Given how much time her husband spent with Biden, it’s hard to imagine she was unaware of the president’s mental state — a fact that was clear to the vast majority of Americans, based on polling. But Goodlander declined to respond to questions about what she knew and when she knew it.
Republican Scott Brown, who is likely to run for U.S. Senate next year, called out New Hampshire Democrats who stood by Biden despite the overwhelming public evidence of his decline.
“Each day, America is learning more shocking new details of the Biden lie, which should alarm every citizen, regardless of their political affiliation,” Brown told NHJournal.
“For four years, the New Hampshire delegation promised us that Joe Biden was up for the most important job in the world – even when the facts and common sense said otherwise. As willing conspirators in the Biden cover-up, members of the New Hampshire delegation, including Congressman (Chris) Pappas, have violated their oaths of office and imperiled our democracy. They are unfit for office, and will be held to account by voters in time.”
