President Joe Biden will sit down for an exclusive interview with ABC’s George Stephanopoulos that will air over the July 4th holiday weekend, a time expected to have low audience engagement.
It is the first interview since Biden’s train wreck of a presidential debate. He is facing calls to exit the race in the aftermath. The interview will be pre-taped, meaning what airs to viewers can be edited.
Democrats have urged the president do more live, impromptu events without a teleprompter to push back against concerns about his mental health.
Biden will also have a litany of public events over the next few days including traveling to Wisconsin on Friday and holding a press conference next week when NATO leaders are in town.
‘He knows how to do the job,’ White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said on Tuesday. But she acknowledged of the debate that ‘it was a bad night.’
A first look of the ABC interview will air Friday, July 5, on World News Tonight with more airing on the weekend editions of Good Morning America. The extended interview will air Sunday, July 7, on This Week with George Stephanopoulos, and on Good Morning America on Monday, July 8th.
Biden has sat down with Stephanopoulos before in August 2021 when he defended his decision to pull U.S. troops from Afghanistan. It is one of the few sit down television interviews that Biden has done as president.
Meanwhile, Biden, for the second day in a row, did not answer a question on whether or not he should drop out of the presidential race.
The president, who was at DC’s Emergency Operations Center on Tuesday, ignored a shouted question from reporters on the subject. He also ignored a similar question on Monday night, shouted at him at the White House after he spoke about a Supreme Court ruling on presidential immunity.
Biden was at the center to talk about extreme weather and the dangers of heat. He is facing a political heat of his own as many Democrats push for him to exit the presidential race after his disastrous debate performance with Donald Trump.
His remarks came shortly after Texas Democrat Rep. Lloyd Doggett became the first sitting Democrat to demand Biden step aside.
‘I represent the heart of a congressional district once represented by Lyndon Johnson,’ Doggett said in a statement. ‘Under very different circumstances, he made the painful decision to withdraw.’
‘President Biden should do the same,’ he continued.
The Biden campaign has made it clear the president is going no where and intends to stay on as the Democratic nominee.
But Biden is still dealing with a demoralized staff and donors who are threatening to pull the plug on his campaign.
And even some Democrats are saying his age is a legitimate issue.
Former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi told MSNBC on Tuesday that she believes ‘it is a legitimate question’ whether Biden’s halting performance is just ‘an episode or is this a condition’.
‘When people ask that question, it’s legitimate – of both candidates,’ Pelosi said. Trump is 78.
Pelosi said she had not spoken to Biden since the debate, but she emphasised that the president is on ‘top of his game, in terms of knowing the issues and what is at stake’.
In his remarks on Tuesday, Biden noted heat can be a killer.
‘Extreme heat is a number one weather related killer United States. More people die from extreme heat than floods, hurricanes and tornadoes,’ he said.
He also warned about the signs of heat exhaustion.
‘Know the signs: headache, naseau and always have water with you whenever you’re outside,’ he said.
Biden returned to the White House Monday evening as the 81-year-old president was dogged by questions as to whether he should remain in the 2024 presidential race.
After the debate debacle in Atlanta, Biden traveled to Raleigh, North Carolina and gave a forceful comeback speech.
‘I know what millions of Americans know – when you get knocked down you get back up,’ the president said, admitting ‘I don’t debate as well as I used to.’
But Democratic donors and other party members remained in a tizzy over Biden’s sometimes incoherent performance.
The president spent the weekend fundraising in New York and New Jersey before returning to Camp David – where he had spent an entire week in debate prep.
The Biden family posed for photographs with celebrity photographer Annie Leibovitz, while encouraging the 81-year-old to stay in fight, The New York Times reported Sunday.
Fingers were pointed at staff for not preparing the president for his showdown with Trump properly.
But former aides rejected that blame game.
Former White House press secretary Jen Psaki defended former White House Chief of Staff Ron Klain and top Biden adviser Anita Dunn and noted that ‘prep does not always determine the outcome.’
‘Biden was bad,’ Psaki posted to X. ‘Important convos about what happens next. But if you are directing your ire at ‘prep’ you are not talking about the right things.’
Meanwhile, Biden will have lunch with Vice President Kamala Harris at the White House on Wednesday and also invited all Democratic governors to meet that day too, as he attempts to solidify his support among the party.
Many of the governors will appear virtually, according to reports, given the short notice of the event.
The meeting comes after Democratic governors held their own call previously and asked Biden to speak with them, CBS News reported.