Former Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa, a 2026 candidate for California governor, criticized former Vice President Kamala Harris and former U.S. Secretary of Health and Human Services Xavier Becerra on Tuesday as complicit in covering up former President Biden’s cognitive decline while in office. Villaraigosa claimed that their actions contributed to President Trump’s victory in the November election. Becerra, who previously served as California‘s attorney general, is also running for governor, while Harris is contemplating entering the race. All three are Democrats.
Villaraigosa’s accusations were based on excerpts from the book “Original Sin: President Biden’s Decline, Its Cover-Up, and His Disastrous Choice to Run Again,” written by CNN’s Jake Tapper and Axios’ Alex Thompson. The book, which heavily relies on anonymous sources, suggests that Biden’s inner circle and advisors concealed his deteriorating state from the public, leading to the Republican win in the 2024 presidential election. Biden is depicted as declining for up to a decade, with a group of political advisors and his family allegedly keeping his condition hidden from voters.
The book highlights instances of Biden’s cognitive decline, such as confusing Becerra with homeland security secretary Alejandro Mayorkas. Asked to address Villaraigosa’s accusations, Becerra did not specifically mention this incident but sent well wishes to the former president and his family as Biden starts treatment. He defended his actions during his tenure as the nation’s health chief, emphasizing his meetings with Biden to make critical decisions and carry out tasks at the Department of Health and Human Services. Despite recognizing the president’s aging, Becerra emphasized their successful collaboration in expanding healthcare access, negotiating lower prescription drug costs, and managing the COVID-19 pandemic. Harris’ representative could not be reached for comment at the time of publication.
