Donilon: Camp David debate prep focused heavily on substance; fatigue and illness likely worsened performance

Michael Donilon told the House Oversight Committee that debate preparation at Camp David emphasized drilling substantive answers and that the campaign may have underweighted stylistic rehearsals.

Donilon said debate prep involved two mock sessions and many hours of reviewing likely questions and detailed answers. "We spent a lot of time going through the steps today, preparing what people thought were likely questions and likely answers," he said. He added that Biden "kept working and reworking them." Donilon's critique of prep was not that the president was underprepared but that the team might have "better allocated our time by spending less time drilling down on the answer" and more on stylistic practice.

Donilon also attributed the president's onstage struggles to recent travel and illness. He recalled the president had returned from Europe (D-Day events and a G-level summit) and "was fighting a cold" that affected his voice. Donilon said those temporary, tangible factors, combined with the general difficulty incumbents face in opening general-election debates, helped create a bad moment on stage.

On whether medication played a role, Donilon told the committee he was not aware President Biden had been given Ambien and said he was "not his doctor." He also said he had no memory of staff members administering medications himself.

Ending: Donilon concluded that while the debate produced an "outsized" press narrative, polling and immediate voter reaction were more measured; he said he believed Biden could have recovered politically, and that the decision to withdraw later reflected multiple political considerations.