President Biden flatly refused to take a cognitive test four times during his first television interview since his disastrous presidential debate.
Biden, 81, sat down with ABC anchor George Stephanopoulos on Friday after a handful of Democrats called on him to drop his re-election bid.
During the highly anticipated interview, Biden refused to undergo an independent medical evaluation that would show voters he is fit to serve another term.
He called his disastrous debate performance a “bad episode” and said there was “no indication of any serious condition.”
Biden told Stephanopoulos: “I take a cognitive test every day. Every day, I take that test. In everything I do. I’m not just campaigning, I’m running the world.”
Biden, 81, sat down with ABC anchor George Stephanopoulos on Friday after a handful of Democrats called on him to drop his re-election bid.
He called his disastrous debate performance a “bad episode” and said there was “no indication of any serious condition.”
Biden also added: “No. Nobody told me I had to do it. Nobody told me. They told me it was OK.” At his last physical on February 28, doctors had deemed him fit for duty.
Stephanopoulos pressed the president further, asking him to get tested and release the results, which Biden dodged, adding, “I already did.”
He went on to detail how on any given day he speaks with a world leader and discusses global issues.
The 22-minute interview, which was not cut or edited, was closely watched by Democrats concerned about the president’s ability to serve another four years.
A senior Democratic official told Reuters after watching a short clip aired before the interview: “I don’t see how he can survive the week as a candidate.”
Stephanopoulos repeatedly asked the embattled commander in chief if he was realistic in his belief that he could beat Trump.
Biden said during the interview that he was the best candidate to take on Trump and that only “the Lord Almighty” could take him out of the race.
Stephanopoulos asked: “If your allies, your friends, and your supporters in the Democratic Party in the House and the Senate tell you reliably that they are concerned that you are going to lose the House and the Senate if you remain in office, what will you do?”
“I’m not going to answer that question,” Biden said. “That’s not going to happen.”
Despite his combative rhetoric, a group led by Virginia Democratic Sen. Mark Warner is calling a meeting Monday to discuss how to pressure Biden to drop out of the race.
In this photo provided by ABC, U.S. President Joe Biden speaks with “This Week” host George Stephanopoulos on July 5, 2024 in Madison, Wisconsin.
A group led by Virginia Sen. Mark Warner, seen here, is holding a meeting Monday to discuss how to pressure Biden to drop out of the race.
Biden told reporters he had spoken to at least 20 lawmakers and that they were telling him to stay.
Asked about Warner’s call for him to leave, Biden said: “Well, Mark Warner, as I understand it, is the only one who is considering that.”
In a speech in Madison on Friday morning, Biden defiantly told his supporters: “I’m staying in the race.”
“I will beat Donald Trump. I will beat him again in 2020. By the way, we will do it again in 2024.”
During his interview with Stephanopoulos, the Clinton team member-turned-anchor asked him if he had managed to watch the debate afterwards.
Biden indicated he was unsure, saying, “I don’t think I know, no.”
He also made a strange claim about inventing a computer chip.
At one point he told Stephanopoulos: ‘We used to have 40 percent of the computer chips.
“We invented the chip, the tiny little chip, the computer chip. It’s in everything from cell phones to guns.”
The interview, along with a weekend campaign stop in Wisconsin and Pennsylvania, was part of Biden’s effort to turn around his shaky debate performance.
Both Wisconsin and Pennsylvania are key states that will help determine the outcome of the 2024 race.
In those states and the other five battleground states, Trump has taken the lead in the polls after the debate in Atlanta, Georgia, on Thursday, June 27.
On Wednesday, Biden assured campaign staff in a call that, despite growing calls for him to resign, he remains in the race for the 2024 presidency.
White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre also told reporters during her briefing earlier this week that Biden is not preparing to drop out of the race.
Jean-Pierre claimed that jet lag from his two consecutive international trips 12 days before the debate contributed to the president’s poor performance.
Despite the combative comments, however, Biden described herself as a black woman during a radio interview on Thursday.
Trump has taken the lead in the polls following his debate in Atlanta, Georgia, on Thursday, June 27.
He stumbled over his words during Thursday’s interview with Philadelphia’s WURD, apparently confusing himself with his Vice President Kamala Harris.
She said: ‘By the way, I’m proud to be, as I said, the first vice president, the first black woman… to serve under a black president.
“I’m proud to be the first black woman on the Supreme Court. There’s a lot we can do because, look… we’re the United States of America.”
Biden appears to have been referring to Vice President Kamala Harris, but the gaffe couldn’t have come at a worse time.
He also referred to Trump as a “former colleague” when he went off script Thursday by attempting to take a direct jab at the former president.
Since the debate, Biden and his team have conducted extensive damage control, reaching out to party members, staff, lawmakers, donors, allies and voters to assure them that Biden remains a viable candidate who can beat Trump again.
But many within the party are looking at other options, considering Vice President Kamala Harris, California Gov. Gavin Newsom and Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer.
None can beat Trump in national polls and in battleground states, and all fall behind Biden in his chances of winning against the former president.