President Joe Biden, in his first television interview since his CNN debate with former President Donald Trump, sat down with ABC News anchor George Stephanopoulos in Madison, Wisconsin, on Friday.
Below is a full transcript of the exchange between Biden and Stephanopoulos.
GEORGE STEPHANOPOULOS: Mr. President, thank you for doing this.
PRESIDENT JOE BIDEN: Thank you for having me.
GEORGE STEPHANOPOULOS: Let’s start with the debate. eh, You and your team said, have said you had a bad night. But your–
PRESIDENT JOE BIDEN: Sure did.
GEORGE STEPHANOPOULOS: But your friend Nancy Pelosi actually framed the question that I think is on the minds of millions of Americans. Was this a bad episode or the sign of a more serious condition?
PRESIDENT JOE BIDEN: It was a bad episode. No indication of any serious condition. I was exhausted. I didn’t listen to my instincts in terms of preparing and– and a bad night.
GEORGE STEPHANOPOULOS: You know, you say you were exhausted. And– and I know you’ve said that before as well, but you came– and you did have a tough month. But you came home from Europe about 11 or 12 days before the debate, spent six days in Camp David. Why wasn’t that enough rest time, enough recovery time?
PRESIDENT JOE BIDEN: Because I was sick. I was feeling terrible. 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.
GEORGE STEPHANOPOULOS: And– did you ever watch the debate afterwards?
PRESIDENT JOE BIDEN: I don’t think I did, no.
GEORGE STEPHANOPOULOS: Well, what I’m try– what I want to get at is, what were you experiencing as you were going through the debate? Did you know how badly it was going?
PRESIDENT JOE BIDEN: Yeah, look. The whole way I prepared, nobody’s fault, mine. Nobody’s fault but mine. I, uh– 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–bout partway through that, you know, all– I get quoted the New York Times had me down, at 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. I couldn’t– I mean, the way the debate ran, not– my fault, no one else’s fault, no one else’s fault.
GEORGE STEPHANOPOULOS: But it seemed like you were having trouble from the first question in, even before he spoke.
PRESIDENT JOE BIDEN: Well, I just had a bad night. You’ve had some bad interviews once in a while. I– I can’t remember any, but I’m sure you did.
GEORGE STEPHANOPOULOS: I’ve had plenty. I guess the question of– the problem is here for a lot of Americans watching is, you’ve said going back to 2020, “Watch me,” to people who are concerned about your age. And, you know, 50 million Americans watched that debate. It seemed to confirm fears they already had.
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