When Joe Biden left office in January, he sought to follow the template set by his predecessors for a post-presidency: Raise funds for a library, deliver a memoir and hit the speaking circuit.

Instead, he has been derailed by a battle to salvage his tarnished legacy—and an urgent fight against stage-4 prostate cancer that kills most men within five years. A stream of new books detailing the extent of his decline while in office and the efforts to conceal it has spawned a fresh round of recriminations over the 82-year-old’s presidency.

The twists have turned the final chapter in Biden’s half-century of public life into a solemn and diminished period that stands to further erode his standing in history.

Some major donors have been reluctant to give money to his presidential library, and some allies privately worry it will not open during his lifetime, according to several donors and Biden allies. Biden’s speaking fees, which can range from $300,000 to $500,000, are below what former President Barack Obama commands, according to people familiar with the arrangements. So far, few organizations have been willing to pay for Biden.

Making matters more difficult, Biden faces pressure that other past presidents didn’t. He aims to quickly amass an inheritance for his grandchildren, according to people familiar with his finances. His son Hunter, with five children, has struggled to find a professional footing and another son, Beau, died in 2015, leaving prongs of the family for whom the Bidens have taken on some financial responsibility.

The most significant hurdle is a hardening view that his presidency failed to deliver on its core promise of moving the country past Donald Trump , according to interviews with Democratic donors and party leaders who are horrified by Trump’s policies. Rather than becoming a bridge to the next generation of Democrats, Biden’s term bridged two nonconsecutive Trump administrations, the most recent of which is bulldozing his agenda.

Raising money for a library “ will be a heavy lift in light of all that has transpired,” said John Morgan, a Florida-based lawyer and onetime major Biden donor, who said that Biden failed to set up the next generation of Democratic leaders for success. Another donor was clear with the Biden team: The donor would give one check, one time, but not multiple ones. Other Democratic donors who once supported Biden said they didn’t plan to give to the library.

Biden’s sister, Valerie Biden Owens , has approached some donors, asking for money to fund the Biden Institute at the University of Delaware, which launched in 2017 after his vice presidency. The university also houses his Senate papers. Some donors speculate the institute could be built out into a presidential library, though no official announcement on the plans has been made.

A Biden spokesman said that the former president hasn’t started to formally solicit money for his library.

Life after Washington

After watching Trump’s inauguration speech in the U.S. Capitol, Joe and Jill Biden boarded the light blue Boeing 747 that he used as president, its call sign now changed to “Special Air Mission 46” from “Air Force One” to reflect the new status of the country’s 46th president. Their destination was the sprawling southern California estate of his friend Joe Kiani.

The now former president and first lady were “catching their breath,” said Kiani, after four years in the White House—and a public service career that had lasted 54 years, since Biden won his first election in 1970 at age 27. They wanted to “have a reset.”

Former U.S. President Joe Biden and former First Lady Jill Biden pose for a selfie photo, in this handout social media picture released May 19, 2025. Joe Biden via X/Handout via REUTERS THIS IMAGE HAS BEEN SUPPLIED BY A THIRD PARTY

During that visit, Biden was energetic and talked about his post-White House plans, said Kiani. Biden and his allies were distressed by Trump’s leadership of the country, he said. “He deeply cares,” Kiani said.

The next month, Biden was supposed to attend Kiani’s 60th birthday party but canceled because of a dental issue, according to Kiani. In retrospect, Kiani now wonders if the ailment was related to the cancer found months later.

More recently, Biden has mostly been living at his home in Wilmington, Del., and travels by Amtrak to Washington about once a week for meetings, according to people familiar with the matter. At times he has taken selfies with other passengers—and he even gave a brief interview about Pope Leo to CNN’s Dana Bash who caught up with him on an Amtrak ride. He has spoken at or otherwise attended a smattering of events—typically ones that aren’t announced to the public or are closed—including a St. Patrick’s Day breakfast in Wilmington, a Passover Seder and a service in Philadelphia where he made remarks.

He is also at work on a memoir, according to a person familiar with the matter.

Biden signed on as a client with Creative Artists Agency in early February. He had been a client of the firm from 2017 to 2020, when a team there helped organize a 42-stop book tour that sold more than 85,000 tickets and kept him in the public eye ahead of his 2020 presidential run.

Biden’s agents at CAA in recent weeks told people that his speaking fee could range from $300,000 to $350,000, according to a person briefed on the matter. That figure could go as high as $500,000, depending on who is asking to host the former president, a person close to Biden said.

Biden has given at least one paid address, speaking to the Advocates, Counselors and Representatives for the Disabled at their conference in Chicago. Some companies and organizations are reluctant to book political speakers who they fear could draw Trump’s ire, a person familiar with the matter said, underscoring a chilling effect that has them instead turning to safer bets.

Former U.S. President Joe Biden and his wife Jill Biden walk ahead of the funeral Mass of Pope Francis, at the Vatican, April 26, 2025. REUTERS/Remo Casilli

On a March trip to New York, Biden donned a tuxedo and attended the opening night of the new Broadway revival of “Othello,” starring Denzel Washington in the Shakespeare drama about a military commander who is deceived by those he perceived to be his allies. Washington and other cast members took a moment to greet Biden.

When Pope Francis died, Biden’s team leaned on donors for a private plane to fly him to Rome after plans to ride on a military plane became too logistically challenging, according to people familiar with the requests.

He has also met with former staff, up-and-coming Democratic lawmakers and former members of his cabinet, according to a person familiar with his schedule. Some of those officials are now being called before a congressional panel investigating what was known about his faltering acuity. In some meetings, Biden has stressed that he has strong relations with foreign leaders and could play a convening role.

He took the train to New York for an appearance earlier this month on ABC television’s daytime talk show “The View,” where he and Jill Biden pushed back on a round of books that claim to document a decline in his acuity. “They are wrong. There’s nothing to sustain that,” Biden said of the criticism. Then he launched into a rambling response that was consistent with some of the behavior that had alarmed some people who met with him.

During that visit, he also met with former President Bill Clinton and stopped at the Midtown offices of billionaire Democratic donor Mark Lasry . Biden talked about his grandchildren and upcoming travel plans and asked about Lasry and his son as well, the people said. He took photos with a number of people in the office before leaving, and the roughly 30-minute meeting was pleasant, the people said.

Some of the people he has recently connected with felt the conversation was the first step in being asked to donate to the presidential library. One of the people said it would be less likely that donors would give toward Biden’s library because typically donors would expect access to a past president for at least the next several years. Biden’s cancer leaves a sense that the window will be much shorter.

FILE PHOTO: U.S. President Joe Biden, flanked by U.S. Vice President Kamala Harris, attends a briefing on the federal response to the wildfires across Los Angeles, in the Roosevelt Room at the White House in Washington, U.S., January 9, 2025. REUTERS/Evelyn Hockstein/File Photo

A difficult diagnosis

On May 12, doctors found a “small nodule” on Biden’s prostate during a “routine physical exam” at a hospital in Philadelphia, according to his office. He traveled to Washington two days later, as part of his typical post-presidency routine, and shared a meal with Linda Thomas-Greenfield , who was his ambassador to the United Nations. They ate at Centrolina, an upscale Italian restaurant in Washington. Biden was photographed with a bowl of ice cream in front of him.

Testing at the end of that week revealed that he had aggressive, late-stage prostate cancer that had spread to his bone. On Tuesday, his office disclosed that his last known prostate-cancer blood screening test was performed in 2014. The office also says his schedule hasn’t changed since his diagnosis.

Some 37% of patients diagnosed with metastatic prostate cancer are alive after five years, based on data from patients diagnosed between 2014 and 2020, according to the American Cancer Society.

“He has the capacity to fight and to dig deep,” said Biden friend and ally Donna Brazile . “And figure out what is most meaningful in this hour in life.”

Write to Annie Linskey at [email protected] , Emily Glazer at [email protected] and Erich Schwartzel at [email protected]