President Joe Biden gave ABC News’ George Stephanopoulos a 107-word rant when asked to explain his performance during a debate with former President Donald Trump in which he caused the car crash.
“Yeah, look,” Biden said, pausing. “The whole way I was preparing, it was nobody’s fault, mine. Nobody’s fault but mine.”
“I — I prepared what I normally would do when I came back with foreign leaders or the National Security Council for explicit details. And I realized — halfway through that, you know, everything — I’m quoted as saying that the New York Times had taken me down, ten points before the debate, now nine, or whatever it is. The fact is, I looked at the fact that he’s also lied 28 times,” he said of Trump.
“I couldn’t – I mean, the way the debate went was not – my fault, and nobody else’s fault,” he continued.
ABC News previewed the first moments of his pivotal conversation with Stephanopoulos, which will air in full at 8 p.m.
President Joe Biden gave ABC News’ George Stephanopoulos a 107-word stream of nonsense when asked to explain his car crash during a debate with former President Donald Trump
In the two-minute clip, Biden attributed his poor debate performance to “exhaustion” and “being sick,” a poor performance that has upended his entire re-election campaign.
A handful of Democrats have publicly called on Biden to withdraw from the race, while there is movement in the Senate — led by Virginia Sen. Mark Warner — to have Democrats push into the upper chamber as well.
Biden continues to resist these efforts. In a fiery speech in Madison earlier Friday, he said, “I’m staying in the race.”
But he also added that he is ready to “beat Trump again in 2020.”
And when Stephanopoulos asked the 81-year-old, “Did you watch the debate afterwards?” Biden indicated he wasn’t sure.
“I don’t think so,” the President replied.
The Clinton aide-turned-ABC News anchor then asked Biden if he knew in real time that he was carrying out a bombing.
“Yeah, look,” Biden said, pausing. “The whole way I was preparing — nobody’s fault — mine. Nobody’s fault but mine.
“I was preparing what I would normally do when I got back to foreign leaders or the National Security Council for explicit details. And I realized — halfway through that, you know, everything — I’m quoted as saying that the New York Times had taken me down, ten points before the debate, now nine, or whatever it is. The fact is, I looked at the fact that he’s also lied 28 times,” the president continued.
“I couldn’t — I mean, the way the debate went was not — my fault, and nobody else’s fault,” Biden added.
In the short clip, he is also said to have said that he had received more medical care than what press officer Karine Jean-Pierre had initially told the press.
“Actually, the doctors were with me. I asked if they had done a COVID test, because they were trying to figure out what was wrong. They did a test to see if I had an infection, you know, a virus. I didn’t. I just had a really bad cold,” Biden said.
Jean-Pierre said during briefings this week that Biden had not been examined by a doctor before confronting Trump because he only had a cold.
Politico reported that he underwent multiple COVID tests during preparation for the debate.
Biden described the debate overall as a “bad episode.”
Stephanopoulos quoted Speaker Emerita Nancy Pelosi as asking, “Is this an episode or is this a condition?”
“No indication of any serious condition,” Biden said. “I was exhausted. I didn’t listen to my instincts in terms of preparation and — and a bad night.”
Stephanopoulos pointed out that Biden had had days to recover from his international trip before the debate.
The president spent the Juneteenth holiday at Rehoboth Beach and then traveled to Camp David, where he was held for a full week.
“Because I was sick,” Biden explained. “I felt terrible.”