A new book claims that the Democrats prepared for former President Joe Biden to die in office or remove himself from consideration for the party's nomination more than one year prior to Election Day 2024.

Aides to Vice President Kamala Harris, who eventually took over as the Democratic nominee following Biden's announcement to end his re-election campaign last July, privately “strategized around the possibility that Biden might die in office,” according to a preview of Jonathan Allen and Amie Parnes’ upcoming book, Fight: Inside the Wildest Battle for the White House, which was obtained by the Guardian. Democratic National Committee officials were also reported to have engaged in similar preparations prior to Biden's official decision to end his campaign, according to the book.

“In hush-hush talks starting in 2023, [DNC] officials gamed out Biden-withdrawal scenarios, according to two people familiar with them,” the book states.

“They wanted to make sure the party was ready for every possible circumstance: If Biden launched his campaign and then stepped aside before the primaries; if he won a bunch of primaries and then could not continue. If he secured enough delegates for winning the nomination but dropped out before winning a floor vote at the convention, and if he left a vacancy at the top of the ticket after taking the nomination.”

Biden officially announced his decision to withdraw from the 2024 election on July 21, weeks after a disastrous debate performance against former and eventual President Donald Trump on June 27, which saw him struggle to complete full thoughts and answer questions. Top Democratic Party officials reportedly feared that Biden wouldn't make it through the difficulties of another presidential campaign, according to Allen and Parnes.

“One official involved in secret talks put a fine point on the fear that Biden would not make it to election day as the party’s nominee: ‘It shows what we had to do to prepare with the unique circumstances we had, which was an 80-plus-year-old president who was running,” the book claimed.

Jamal Simmons, who served as Harris' communications director, was also reported to have prepared a "death-pool roster" of judges in case Harris needed to be sworn in had Biden died in office. Simmons reportedly “never told the vice president about the death-pool roster before leaving her camp,” however, demanded to be “notified immediately if something happened to Biden, because he had worked out an entire communications strategy,” before departing from his role in January 2023, the book states.

Dan O'Donnell