President Joe Biden addresses the nation from the Oval Office of the White House in Washington, Sunday, July 14, 2024, discussing the assassination of Republican presidential candidate and former President Donald Trump at a campaign rally in Pennsylvania.
Erin Schaff/The New York Times, Associated Press, Pool
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Erin Schaff/The New York Times, Associated Press, Pool
As the first night of the Republican National Convention begins, President Joe Biden gave a new television interview and pushed back when asked whether he needs to do more to convince Republicans of his ability to run for reelection.
Public calls from congressional Democrats for Biden to drop out of the presidential race have waned since Saturday’s assassination of former President Donald Trump.
Biden told NBC’s Lester Holt that he is determined to continue his re-election bid despite a serious wobble in last month’s debate with Trump.
Holt asked the president who he listens to when it comes to “deeply personal decisions” such as whether to continue running.
“Me,” Biden said.
“I’m old,” Biden said later, acknowledging that he understood the questions about his age.
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“But I’m only three years older than No. 1 Trump. No. 2, my mental acuity is very good. I’ve done more than any president in a long time, 3.5 years. I would Accept this judgment.
Holt asked Biden if he had seen the debate tape. “I was right there,” Biden said. “I didn’t have to witness it, I was right there.”
Holt asked Biden if he would be willing to debate Trump again before the agreed-upon second debate in September — an opportunity, Holt said, “to get back on track?”
“I’m already on board!” Biden described a series of incidents he had done since the debate to try to show it was just a bad night. “Where have you been? I’ve done 22 big events, thousands of people, overwhelming crowds. A lot has happened.
Biden’s own words are now under scrutiny
Biden said he spoke with Trump after the shooting, calling the call “very cordial” and saying he told his predecessor “he was really praying for Jill and me.”
“I hope his whole family can survive this,” Biden added.
Speaking in the Oval Office on Sunday, Biden called on Americans to “lower the political temperature.”
Asked if he had reflected on whether his comments could incite violence, Biden said it was Trump who used inflammatory language, not him.
“Listen, how do you talk about a threat to democracy when a president says what he says – which is real? Do you just say nothing because that might incite others?” Biden said.
“I’m not the guy who said on day one that I wanted to be a dictator. I’m not the guy who refused to accept the results of the election,” Biden said, citing an example of such statements made by Trump.
Biden did say it was a “mistake” in a recent campaign call to say it was time to put Trump in the bull’s-eye.
But he has repeatedly blamed Trump and his own rhetoric, from his first campaign for president in 2016 to comments about the Jan. 6 insurrection.
Holt later asked Biden whether the assassination attempt had changed the trajectory of the campaign.
“I don’t know,” Biden said. “And you don’t know either.”
