US President Joe Biden on Friday fended off questions about his mental fitness and electability in a TV interview meant to draw a line under a disastrous debate performance that triggered calls for him to quit his re-election bid.
With rebellion brewing among some nervous Democratic voters, lawmakers and donors, the one-on-one interview with the American Broadcasting Co (ABC) was hyped as the most consequential of the 81-year-old president’s long career.
During the 22-minute sit-down, Biden blamed sickness for his subpar performance and repeatedly dismissed polling and fears within his party that the debate had gravely wounded his prospects.
Photo: AFP
“I was sick, I was feeling terrible... I just had a really bad cold,” said the president, in his first unscripted remarks of any length since last week’s showdown with former US president Donald Trump.
Asked if staying in the race might jeopardize Democrats holding on to the White House, Biden said: “I don’t think anybody’s more qualified to be president or win this race than me.”
He dodged calls to have doctors assess his mental acuity, saying that the duties of the presidency mean “I have a cognitive test every single day. Every day I have that test, everything I do.”
The Trump campaign mockingly posted on social media that “Biden sounds great” as the broadcast went out, before saying that he “is in denial and in decline.”
The interview came after Biden was hesitant and often incoherent during the debate against Trump in Atlanta, leading to panic within his party and calls for him to pull out of the race.
The Biden campaign has pushed back hard on any suggestion he might withdraw and, just hours before the ABC interview, released an aggressive campaign travel schedule for the rest of this month.
Appearing at a campaign rally in Madison, Wisconsin, the president delivered an energetic stump speech, unequivocally saying: “I’m staying in the race. I’ll beat Donald Trump.”
Postdebate polls have shown a widening deficit in Trump’s favor, and at least four Democrats in the US Congress have called on Biden to step aside, as have major newspapers, donors and a raft of Democratic-supporting political commentators.
US Senate Select Committee on Intelligence Chairman Mark Warner and US House of Representatives Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries were planning crisis talks with lawmakers in the coming days, US media reported.
In Friday’s interview, ABC host George Stephanopoulos repeatedly referenced the growing Democratic clamor for a conversation on picking a new candidate, asking Biden if he would step down if convinced he could not beat Trump.
“Well, it depends. If the Lord Almighty comes down and tells me that, I might do that,” he said.
Biden added that he had not watched the debate afterward, saying: “I don’t think I did, no.”
He dismissed the idea that his poor performance was a sign of a more serious health problem.
“It was a bad episode, no indication of any serious condition. I was exhausted. I didn’t listen to my instincts in terms of preparing and, and I had a bad night,” Biden said.
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