A tanned Joe Biden repeatedly refused to undergo an independent medical evaluation that would show voters he is prepared to serve another term in office.
This came after Biden blamed his poor debate on exhaustion, a mystery illness and even being distracted by Donald Trump during his first televised interview since the Atlanta showdown.
“Look, I have a cognitive test every day,” Biden told George Stephanopoulos, referring to the tasks he faces daily in a rigorous job. “Every day, I’ve had tests. In everything I do.”
He insisted that he is no longer fragile and that he is “still in good shape.” He said that his personal doctors are constantly evaluating him and that they “don’t hesitate to tell me” if something is wrong.
Biden, 81, spoke to Stephanopoulos in a voice reminiscent of the husky tone of his debate after asking him if he had even seen him again, saying, “I don’t know why” he had such a bad performance.
A tanned Joe Biden blamed his poor debate performance on exhaustion, a mystery illness and even a distracting Donald Trump during his first televised interview since the Atlanta showdown.
He insisted that he is no longer fragile and that he is “still in good shape.” He said that his personal doctors are constantly evaluating him and that they “don’t hesitate to tell me” if something is wrong.
The president often wandered from one point to another mid-answer and often mixed up his words.
When pressed further about what happened at the debate, he suddenly blamed Trump off the microphone.
“I realized that even when he was answering a question, even if they turned off his microphone, he would still yell and I let that distract me. I realized I was not in control,” she said.
Biden later claimed during the 30-minute talk to have invented a new type of computer chip and to have started and strengthened NATO.
He sought to claim that his performance last week was a “bad episode” and that there was “no indication of any serious condition” in a highly anticipated ABC interview that was seen as an important test of his fitness to run for office.
“I felt terrible,” Biden said, his voice hoarse and sometimes breaking. “In fact, the doctors who were with me asked me if I had been tested for COVID because they were trying to figure out what was wrong with me. They tested me to see whether or not I had some infection, you know, a virus. I didn’t. I just had a really bad cold.
“I didn’t listen to my instincts in terms of readiness,” Biden added.
But Biden’s rigorous efforts to course-correct from his debate performance were still failing to calm intraparty frustrations, with one influential Democratic senator working on a nascent push that would encourage the president to drop out of 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 on.