President Joe Biden, fighting to save his endangered reelection effort, used a highly
anticipated TV interview Friday to repeatedly reject taking an independent
medical evaluation that would show voters he is up for serving another term in
office while blaming his disastrous debate performance on a “bad episode” and
saying there were “no indications of any serious condition.”
“Look,
I have a cognitive test every single day,” Biden told ABC’s George Stephanopoulos,
referring to the tasks he faces daily in a rigorous job. “Every day, I have
that test. Everything I do. You know, not only am I campaigning, but I’m
running the world.”
The 81-year-old Biden made it through the 22-minute interview
without any major blunders that would inflict further damage to his imperiled
candidacy, but it appeared unlikely to fully tamp down concerns about his age
and fitness for another four years and his ability to defeat Donald Trump in
November.
It left Biden in a
standoff against a not-insignificant faction of his party with four months to
go until Election Day, and with just weeks until the Democratic National
Convention. The drawn-out spectacle could benefit Biden’s efforts to remain in
the race by limiting the party’s options to replace him. But it also could be a
distraction from vital efforts to frame the 2024 race as a referendum on Trump.
During the interview, Biden insisted he was not more frail
than earlier in his presidency. He said he undergoes “ongoing assessment” by
his personal doctors and they “don’t hesitate to tell me” if something is
wrong.
“Can I run the 100 in 10 flat? No. But I’m still in good
shape,” Biden said.
As for the debate, “I didn’t listen to my instincts in terms
of preparing,” Biden said.
Biden suggested that Trump’s disruptions — from just a few
feet away — had flustered him: “I realized that, even when I was answering a
question and they turned his mic off, he was still shouting and I let it
distract me. I’m not blaming it on that. But I realized that I just wasn’t in
control.”
At
times, Biden rambled during the interview, which ABC said aired in full and
without edits. At one point, he started to explain his debate performance, then
veered to a New York Times poll, then pivoted to the lies Trump told during the
debate. Biden also referred to the midterm “red wave” as occurring in 2020,
rather than 2022.
Asked how he might
turn the race around, Biden argued that one key would be large and energetic
rallies like the one he held Friday in Wisconsin. When reminded that Trump
routinely draws larger crowds, the president laid into his opponent.
“Trump is a pathological liar,” Biden said, accusing Trump of
bungling the federal response to the COVID pandemic and failing to create jobs.
“You ever see something that Trump did that benefited someone else and not
him?”
The interview, paired with a weekend campaign in battleground
Wisconsin and Pennsylvania, was part of Biden’s rigorous effort to course
correct from his rocky debate performance. But internal party frustrations
continue to fester, with one influential Democratic senator working on a
nascent push to encourage the president to exit the race and Democrats quietly
chatting about where they would go next if the president drops out — or what it
would mean if he stays in.
“It’s President
Biden’s decision whether or not he remains in the race. Voters select our
nominee and they chose him,” said California Rep. Ro Khanna, a member of the
Biden campaign’s national advisory board that works as a gathering of his top
surrogates. “Now, he needs to prove to those voters that he is up to the job
and that will require more than just this one interview.”
One Democrat who watched said they found Biden to be still
shaky under controlled conditions and predicted more will call on him to leave
the race.
Still, in Wisconsin, Biden was focused on proving his
capacity to serve another term. When asked whether he would halt his campaign,
he told reporters he was “completely ruling that out” and said he is “positive”
he could serve another four years. At a rally in front of hundreds of
supporters he acknowledged his subpar debate performance but insisted, “I am
running, and I’m going to win again.”
While private angst among Democratic lawmakers, donors and
strategists has been running deep since the debate, most in the party have held
public fire as they wait to see if the president can restore confidence with
his weekend travel and his handling of the interview. Top Biden campaign
officials were texting lawmakers encouraging them to refrain from public comments
about the situation and give the president a chance to respond, according to a
Democrat granted anonymity to discuss the situation.
To that end, Sen. Mark Warner reached out to fellow senators
throughout this week to discuss whether to ask Biden to exit the race,
according to three people familiar with the effort who requested anonymity to
talk about private conversations. The Virginia Democrat’s moves are notable
given his chairmanship of the Senate Intelligence Committee and his reputation
as a lawmaker who is supportive of Biden and has working relationships with
colleagues in both parties. Warner’s effort was first reported by The
Washington Post.
The strategy remains fluid. One of the people with knowledge
of Warner’s effort said there are enough Senate Democrats concerned enough
about Biden’s capacity to run for reelection to take some sort of action,
although there was yet no consensus on what that plan would be. Some of the
Democratic senators could meet as soon as Monday on how to move forward.
The top Democrats on House committees are planning to meet
virtually Sunday to discuss the situation, according to a person familiar with
the gathering granted anonymity to talk about it.
At least four House
Democrats have called for Biden to step down as the nominee. While not going
that far, Massachusetts Gov. Maura Healey said in a carefully worded statement
Friday that Biden now has a decision to make on “the best way forward.”
“I urge him to listen to the American people and carefully
evaluate whether he remains our best hope to defeat Donald Trump,” Healey said.
In the interview, Biden was asked how he might be persuaded
to leave the race. He laughed and replied, “If the Lord Almighty comes down and
tells me that, I might do that.”
There were also a few signs of discontent at Biden’s campaign
rally Friday, with one person onstage waving a sign that read “Pass the torch
Joe” as the president came out. His motorcade was also greeted at the middle
school by a few people urging him to move on.
But Rebecca Green, a 52-year-old environmental scientist from
Madison, said she found Biden’s energy reassuring. “We were just waiting for
him to come out strong and fighting again, the way we know he is.”
Many Democratic lawmakers, who are hearing from constituents
at home during the holiday week, are deeply frustrated and split on whether
Biden should stay or go. Privately, discussions among the House Democrats
flared this week as word spread that some of them were drafting public letters
suggesting the president should quit the race.
Biden appears to have pulled his family closer while
attempting to prove that he’s still the Democrats’ best option.
The ubiquitous presence of Hunter Biden in the West
Wing since the debate has become an uncomfortable dynamic for many staffers,
according to two Democrats close to the White House who requested anonymity to
discuss the sensitive matter.
For many staffers, the sight of Hunter Biden, just weeks after his conviction on felony gun charges,
taking a larger role in advising his father has been unsettling and a
questionable choice, they said.
In a hastily organized gathering with more than 20 Democratic governors Wednesday
evening, Biden acknowledged he needs to sleep more and limit evening events so
he can be rested for the job. In trying to explain away those comments, White
House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre stressed that Biden “works around the
clock” but that he “also recognizes the importance of striking a balance and
taking care of himself.”
Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear, who attended the meeting, said Biden “certainly engaged with us on complicated matters.”
“But then again, this is something that he needs to not just reassure Democratic governors on, but he needs to reassure the American people,” Beshear said.