President Joe Biden told ABC’s George Stephanopoulos that he wasn’t sure if he rewatched the car crash presidential debate against former President Donald Trump.
ABC News teased the first moments of his pivotal sit-down with Stephanopoulos, which will be aired in full at 8 p.m.
In the two-minute long clip, Biden blamed ‘exhaustion’ and being ‘sick’ for his poor debate performance, which has upended his entire reelection campaign.
Stephanopoulos asked the 81-year-old president: ‘Did you ever watch the debate afterwards?’
‘I don’t think I did, no,’ the president replied.
The Clinton staffer turned ABC News anchor then pressed Biden if he knew he was bombing in real time.
‘Yeah, look,’ Biden said, pausing. ‘The whole way I prepared – nobody’s fault – mine. Nobody’s fault but mine.
‘I prepared what I usually would do sittin’ down as I did come back with foreign leaders or National Security Council for explicit detail. And I realized – partway through that, you know, all – I get quoted the New York Times had me down, ten points before the debate, nine now, or whatever the hell it is. The fact of the matter is, what I looked at is that he also lied 28 times,’ the president continued.
‘I couldn’t – I mean, the way the debate ran, not – my fault, nobody else’s fault, no one else’s fault,’ Biden added.
In the brief clip, he also seemingly said that he had received more medical attention than what press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre initially told the press.
‘Matter of fact the docs with me. I asked if they did a COVID test because they’re trying to figure out what was wrong. They did a test to see whether or not I had some 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 hadn’t been checked out by a doctor ahead of the showdown with Trump because her merely had a cold.
Politico reported that he took several COVID tests during debate prep.
Overall, Biden characterized the debate as a ‘bad episode.’
Stephanopoulos quoted Speaker Emerita Nancy Pelosi who had asked ‘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 preparing and – and a bad night.’
Stephanopoulos pointed out how Biden had had days to recover after his international travel ahead of the debate.
The president spent the Juneteenth holiday at Rehoboth Beach before traveling to Camp David where he was holed away there for a whole week.
‘Because I was sick,’ Biden explained. ‘I was feeling terrible.’