Biden defends mental health, vows to stay in race against Trump

President Joe Biden insisted Friday that his damaging debate efficiency towards former President Donald Trump was only a “unhealthy night time,” and never a sign of a extra critical well being situation.

“I used to be exhausted,” Biden instructed ABC Information’ George Stephanopoulos, in his first face-to-face TV interview since his raspy and disconnected debate final week.

“I did not take heed to my instincts, when it comes to getting ready, and [had] a nasty night time,” stated Biden, who additionally referred to his efficiency as a “unhealthy episode.”

When Stephanopoulos famous that Biden had returned from an abroad overseas coverage journey in Europe about 11 days earlier than the controversy and spent six days at Camp David beforehand, Biden replied, “I used to be sick, I used to be feeling horrible.”

Requested if he watched the controversy later, Biden briefly paused after which stated, “I do not assume I did, no.” He stated repeatedly that his efficiency was “no one’s fault [but] mine.”

Biden additionally refused to entertain the concept of taking a cognitive or neurological check. “I get a full neurological check day by day,” Biden stated, referring to the pains of the presidency. When Stephanopoulos pressed him on why he hadn’t taken had any cognitive assessments, the president replied, “No, nobody stated I needed to.”

The interview got here on the identical day that Biden defiantly rejected a rising refrain of Democrats, together with high donors and allies, who’re urging the 81-year-old incumbent to withdraw from the race.

Biden, underneath aggressive questioning from Stephanopoulos about whether or not he’s able to both beating Trump in November or serving one other 4 years within the White Home, maintained that he believes he’s as much as each duties.

“I am working once more as a result of I feel I perceive finest what needs to be carried out,” Biden stated within the 23-minute interview.

He appeared to foreclose any risk of fixing his thoughts, even in a state of affairs the place social gathering leaders and his shut allies ask him to step apart.

“I imply, if the Lord Almighty got here down and stated, ‘Joe, get out of the race,’ I might get out of the race,” he stated. “The Lord Almighty’s not coming down.”

Biden stated he has spoken because the debate with Democratic leaders who didn’t inform him to withdraw.

However many Democratic lawmakers are nonetheless contemplating their subsequent steps. Home Minority Chief Hakeem Jeffries, D-N.Y., is holding a digital assembly Sunday with the highest Democrats on Home committees, three sources instructed NBC Information. The group is predicted to give attention to Biden, a type of sources instructed NBC.

Lower than a half-dozen Home Democrats to this point have known as on Biden to drop out of the race to this point, however that quantity may develop over the weekend.

The president’s remarks to Stephanopoulos echoed his earlier feedback on the marketing campaign path that day.

“I’m working and going to win once more,” Biden instructed a crowd of supporters throughout a speech in Madison, Wisconsin.

“They’re making an attempt to push me out of the race,” Biden instructed the group. “Properly let me say this as clearly as I can: I am staying within the race.”

Biden instructed reporters on an airport tarmac after the marketing campaign occasion that he had spoken to “at the least 20” members of Congress who’re “telling me to remain within the race.”

Biden’s choice may set the marketing campaign on a path of accelerating stress with a few of its high allies and donors who, spurred by issues about Biden’s well being and skills, have known as for a brand new nominee to guide the Democratic Occasion into the November elections.

Whereas Biden sounded constantly louder and clearer in Friday’s remarks and interview than he did in final week’s debate, he nonetheless sometimes slurred or fumbled over sure phrases and phrases.

On Capitol Hill, Democratic Sen. Mark Warner of Virginia, a longtime Biden ally, has launched a brand new effort to convene Democratic senators subsequent week to debate what Biden’s path ahead is perhaps, NBC Information reported.

Requested on the tarmac about Warner’s effort, the president dismissed it. Warner, he stated, “is the one one contemplating that. Nobody else has known as me to do this.”

On Thursday, Disney heiress and longtime Democratic donor Abigail Disney instructed CNBC that she is going to withhold donations till Biden withdraws.

On Wednesday, a gaggle of enterprise leaders corralled by the pro-Democracy Management Now Mission urged Biden to step apart.

Editorial boards of a number of newspapers, together with The New York Instances, have issued the identical name.

Questions are actually swirling about how an alternate candidate, resembling Vice President Kamala Harris, may take Biden’s place as the brand new nominee.

The Trump marketing campaign and Republican Occasion, in flip, have began ramping up assaults on Harris.

Harris instructed CBS Information on Tuesday, “Joe Biden is our nominee. We beat Trump as soon as, and we’ll beat him once more. Interval.”

White Home press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre held the road in a gaggle with reporters who peppered her with questions on Biden’s capabilities throughout the flight to Madison.

“He stated he had a nasty debate,” Jean-Pierre conceded. However “90 minutes shouldn’t overshadow his profession, his three-and-a-half [year] tenure as president.”

Biden, she added, “is resolute, sturdy [and] considering as clearly as he used to.”

However that stable entrance — buttressed by subsequent statements of assist from Democratic governors and different allies — has carried out little to tamp down the anxieties of Trump’s opponents.

Biden, the oldest president ever to serve and could be 86 on the finish of a second time period, was already struggling earlier than the controversy to spice up his limp approval rankings.

Nationwide polls have constantly confirmed a neck-and-neck race, however some surveys gave Trump an edge in the important thing swing states that carried Biden to victory in 2020. In the meantime, vast swaths of voters have repeatedly expressed issues about Biden’s age and health for workplace.

After the controversy, polls from main media retailers, together with The New York Instances and The Wall Avenue Journal, all confirmed Trump gaining on Biden.