US
President
Joe
Biden
speaks
during
a
campaign
event
in
Madison,
Wisconsin,
on
July
5,
2024.
Saul
Loeb
|
AFP
|
Getty
Images
President
Joe
Biden
insisted
Friday
that
his
damaging
debate
performance
against
former
President
Donald
Trump
was
just
a
“bad
night,”
and
not
an
indication
of
a
more
serious
health
condition.
“I
was
exhausted,”
Biden
told
ABC
News‘
George
Stephanopoulos,
in
his
first
face-to-face
TV
interview
since
his
raspy
and
disconnected
debate
last
week.
“I
didn’t
listen
to
my
instincts,
in
terms
of
preparing,
and
[had]
a
bad
night,”
said
Biden,
who
also
referred
to
his
performance
as
a
“bad
episode.”
When
Stephanopoulos
noted
that
Biden
had
returned
from
an
overseas
foreign
policy
trip
in
Europe
about
11
days
before
the
debate
and
spent
six
days
at
Camp
David
beforehand,
Biden
replied,
“I
was
sick,
I
was
feeling
terrible.”
Asked
if
he
watched
the
debate
later,
Biden
briefly
paused
and
then
said,
“I
don’t
think
I
did,
no.”
He
said
repeatedly
that
his
performance
was
“nobody’s
fault
[but]
mine.”
Biden
also
refused
to
entertain
the
idea
of
taking
a
cognitive
or
neurological
test.
“I
get
a
full
neurological
test
every
day,”
Biden
said,
referring
to
the
rigors
of
the
presidency.
When
Stephanopoulos
pressed
him
on
why
he
hadn’t
taken
had
any
cognitive
assessments,
the
president
replied,
“No,
no
one
said
I
had
to.”
The
interview
came
on
the
same
day
that
Biden
defiantly
rejected
a
growing
chorus
of
Democrats,
including
top
donors
and
allies,
who
are
urging
the
81-year-old
incumbent
to
withdraw
from
the
race.
Biden,
under
aggressive
questioning
from
Stephanopoulos
about
whether
he
is
capable
of
either
beating
Trump
in
November
or
serving
another
four
years
in
the
White
House,
maintained
that
he
believes
he
is
up
to
both
tasks.
“I’m
running
again
because
I
think
I
understand
best
what
has
to
be
done,”
Biden
said
in
the
23-minute
interview.
He
appeared
to
foreclose
any
possibility
of
changing
his
mind,
even
in
a
scenario
where
party
leaders
and
his
close
allies
ask
him
to
step
aside.
“I
mean,
if
the
Lord
Almighty
came
down
and
said,
‘Joe,
get
out
of
the
race,’
I’d
get
out
of
the
race,”
he
said.
“The
Lord
Almighty’s
not
coming
down.”
Biden
said
he
has
spoken
since
the
debate
with
Democratic
leaders
who
did
not
tell
him
to
withdraw.
But
many
Democratic
lawmakers
are
still
considering
their
next
steps.
House
Minority
Leader
Hakeem
Jeffries,
D-N.Y.,
is
holding
a
virtual
meeting
Sunday
with
the
top
Democrats
on
House
committees,
three
sources
told
NBC
News.
The
group
is
expected
to
focus
on
Biden,
one
of
those
sources
told
NBC.
Less
than
a
half-dozen
House
Democrats
so
far
have
called
on Biden to
drop
out
of
the
race
so
far,
but
that
number
could
grow
over
the
weekend.
The
president’s
remarks
to
Stephanopoulos
echoed
his
earlier
comments
on
the
campaign
trail
that
day.
“I
am
running
and
going
to
win
again,”
Biden
told
a
crowd
of
supporters
during
a
speech
in
Madison,
Wisconsin.
“They’re
trying
to
push
me
out
of
the
race,”
Biden
told
the
crowd.
“Well
let
me
say
this
as
clearly
as
I
can:
I’m
staying
in
the
race.”
Biden
told
reporters
on
an
airport
tarmac
after
the
campaign
event
that
he
had
spoken
to
“at
least
20”
members
of
Congress
who
are
“telling
me
to
stay
in
the
race.”
Biden’s
decision
could
set
the
campaign
on
a
path
of
increasing
tension
with
some
of
its
top
allies
and
donors
who,
spurred
by
concerns
about
Biden’s
health
and
abilities,
have
called
for
a
new
nominee
to
lead
the
Democratic
Party
into
the
November
elections.
While
Biden
sounded
consistently
louder
and
clearer
in
Friday’s
remarks
and
interview
than
he
did
in
last
week’s
debate,
he
still
occasionally
slurred
or
fumbled
over
certain
words
and
phrases.
Frustration
mounts
among
Dems
On
Capitol
Hill,
Democratic
Sen.
Mark
Warner
of
Virginia,
a
longtime
Biden
ally,
has
launched
a
new
effort
to
convene
Democratic
senators
next
week
to
discuss
what
Biden’s
path
forward
might
be,
NBC
News
reported.
Asked
on
the
tarmac
about
Warner’s
effort,
the
president
dismissed
it.
Warner,
he
said,
“is
the
only
one
considering
that.
No
one
else
has
called
me
to
do
that.”
On
Thursday,
Disney
heiress
and
longtime
Democratic
donor
Abigail
Disney
told
CNBC
that
she
will
withhold
donations
until
Biden
withdraws.
On
Wednesday,
a
group
of
business
leaders
corralled
by
the
pro-Democracy
Leadership
Now
Project
urged
Biden
to
step
aside.
Editorial
boards
of
multiple
newspapers,
including
The
New
York
Times,
have
issued
the
same
call.
Questions
are
now
swirling
about
how
an
alternative
candidate,
such
as
Vice
President
Kamala
Harris,
might
take
Biden’s
place
as
the
new
nominee.
The
Trump
campaign
and
Republican
Party,
in
turn,
have
started
ramping
up
attacks
on
Harris.
Harris
told
CBS
News
on
Tuesday,
“Joe
Biden
is
our
nominee.
We
beat
Trump
once,
and
we’re
going
to
beat
him
again.
Period.”
White
House
press
secretary
Karine
Jean-Pierre
held
the
line
in
a
gaggle
with
reporters
who
peppered
her
with
questions
about Biden’s
capabilities
during
the
flight
to
Madison.
“He
said
he
had
a
bad
debate,”
Jean-Pierre
conceded.
But
“90
minutes
should
not
overshadow
his
career,
his
three-and-a-half
[year]
tenure
as
president.”
Biden,
she
added,
“is
resolute,
strong
[and]
thinking
as
clearly
as
he
used
to.”
But
that
solid
front
—
buttressed
by
subsequent
statements
of
support
from
Democratic
governors
and
other
allies
—
has
done
little
to
tamp
down
the
anxieties
of
Trump’s
opponents.
Polls
are
shifting
Biden,
the
oldest
president
ever
to
serve
and
would
be
86
at
the
end
of
a
second
term,
was
already
struggling
before
the
debate
to
boost
his
limp
approval
ratings.
National
polls
have
consistently
showed
a
neck-and-neck
race,
but
some
surveys
gave
Trump
an
edge
in
the
key
swing
states
that
carried
Biden
to
victory
in
2020.
Meanwhile,
wide
swaths
of
voters
have
repeatedly
expressed
concerns
about
Biden’s
age
and
fitness
for
office.
After
the
debate,
polls
from
major
media
outlets,
including
The
New
York
Times
and
The
Wall
Street
Journal,
all
showed
Trump
gaining
on
Biden.
