Live updates: Biden wraps Stephanopoulos interview after week of mounting pressure

In a Friday interview with ABC News, Biden acknowledged his “bad” debate against Trump, blaming it on a cold, and reiterated that he has no plans to drop out of the presidential race.

Here are the key takeaways:

• Biden writes off debate performance as ‘bad episode’ caused by being sick

• Biden continues to resist calls from Democrats to step aside

• Biden says: ‘I’m still in good shape’

• Biden didn’t commit to taking cognitive test

• Did Biden go back and watch the debate?

• Biden still confident he can beat Trump

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Recent polls have indicated that Biden has a low approval rating among the American public — but Biden said he doesn't believe those polls.

"Mr. President, I've never seen a president at 36% approval get reelected," Stephanopoulos pressed.

"Well I don't believe that's my approval rating. That's not what our polls show," Biden responded.

In a poll conducted by Yahoo News/YouGov after last week's debate, 60% of Americans said that Biden was not "fit to serve another term as president" — while 24% say he is fit.

The president’s fitness rating has only been that low once before, in November 2023, and it has never been worse.

Read more about Yahoo News' latest polling here.

George Stephanopoulos asked President Biden if there was anything that would get him to step down from running against Trump.

“If the Lord Almighty came down and said ‘Joe, get out of the race,’ I’d get out of the race,” Biden said. However, he added, "the Lord Almighty’s not coming down.”

Stephanopoulos agreed — that "the Lord Almighty is not going to come down."

"But if you are told reliably from your allies, and your friends and supporters in the Democratic Party, in the House, in the Senate that they’re concerned you’re going to lose the House and the Senate if you stay in, what will you do?” Stephanopoulos asked.

"It's not going to happen," Biden replied.

When asked by Stephanopoulos if he was being honest about whether he's truly a good fit to run as the Democratic nominee in the presidential election, Biden said he was.

"Are you sure you're being honest with yourself when you say you have the mental and physical capacity to serve another four years?" the ABC journalist asked.

"Yes, I am," he said.

"But are you being honest with yourself as well about your ability to defeat Donald Trump right now?" Stephanopoulos asked.

"Yes. Yes, yes, yes," Biden responded.

Stephanopoulos interviewed Biden for 22 minutes, mostly asking about Biden's mental fitness and whether he was capable of being president of the United States.

Biden insisted he was the right man for the job. He repeated talking points he's said at recent rallies and other events, touting his record on foreign policy, job creation and how Trump "is a pathological liar."

“I don’t think anybody’s more qualified to be president or win this race than me,” Biden said, downplaying worry from members of the Democratic Party.

Stephanopoulos said ABC News also invited Trump to be interviewed for a one-on-one interview after the debate but the former president declined.

Biden repeatedly ducked Stephanopoulos's attempts to get the president to commit to taking an independent neurological test.

"Have you had a full neurological and cognitive evaluation?" Stephanopoulos asked after inquiring about Biden's physical health.

Biden responded that he has a full evaluation as part of his regular health checkups.

"Have you had a neurologist, a specialist, do an examination?" Stephanopoulos asked again.

"No. No one said I had to. They said I'm good," Biden said.

"Would you be willing to undergo an independent medical evaluation that included neurological and cognitive tests and release the results to the American people?" Stephanopoulos asked again.

Biden dismissed the question by touting his work as commander in chief.

"Look, I have a cognitive test every day. Every day I have had tests. Everything I do. Not only am I campaigning, but I am running the world. Now that sounds like hyperbole. But we are the essential nation in the world. ... For example, today before I came out here, I'm on the phone with the prime minister — anyway I shouldn't get into the detail — but with Netanyahu. I'm on the phone with the new prime minister of England."

Stephanopoulos asked Biden one final time, noting that some Americans still have concerns about Biden's health. "To reassure them, would you be willing to have the independent medical evaluation?"

Biden just said they should watch him during the campaign.

Stephanopoulos asked Biden how he responds to those who say he's staying in the 2024 presidential race mainly because he's out for himself — a criticism often lobbed at Donald Trump.

"I don't think those critics know what they're talking about," Biden said. "They're just wrong."

President Biden, being interviewed on ABC News Friday by George Stephanopoulos, said that his 2024 race against former president Donald Trump amounted to more than politics.

"It's about the character of the president," Biden said, comparing himself to his rival.

In an interview with ABC News on Friday, George Stephanopoulos asked Biden if he was the same man he was in 2020 when he was elected president.

Biden said that "in terms of successes, yes." He then went on to list things he's done while in office, including expanding NATO, improving the economy and creating jobs.

When asked what the job has cost him mentally, physically and emotionally, Biden referred to the debate: "Well, I just think it cost me a really bad night. Bad run."

Biden said he wouldn't run if he didn't think he could be president for another four years.

President Biden is being interviewed on ABC News by George Stephanopoulos, his first following his highly criticized debate. Here's where to fin it.

Rep. Mike Quigley of Illinois is the fourth Democratic representative to call on President Biden to drop his reelection bid in the wake of his debate performance last week.

"Mr. President, your legacy is set. We owe you the greatest debt of gratitude. The only thing that you can do now to cement that for all time and prevent utter catastrophe is to step down and let someone else do this," Quigley said on "All In with Chris Hayes" Friday.

Here's a rundown of Democrats who have called on Biden to step aside or voiced concern over his candidacy.

House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries will convene a meeting with top House Democrats at which they will discuss Biden's candidacy, Axios reported Friday.

Asked by reporters on Friday whether he had been made aware of the Washington Post reporting that Democratic Sen. Mark Warner of Virginia was contacting other senators to have them call on Biden to drop out of the race, the president portrayed Warner as an outlier.

"Mark Warner, my understanding, is the only one considering that," Biden said.

Three House Democrats have already gone public with calls for Biden to withdraw from the race following his much-criticized debate performance last week.

During Biden’s interview on Friday with ABC News, journalist George Stephanopoulos asked the president whether the halting performance the nation witnessed during last week’s debate was “a bad episode or the sign of a more serious condition?”

“It was a bad episode,” Biden said. “No indication of any serious condition. ... I didn’t listen to my instincts in terms of preparing. It was a bad night.”

“You came home from Europe about 11 or 12 days before the debate,” Stephanopoulos continued. “You spent six days in Camp David. Why wasn’t that enough rest time, enough recovery time?”

“Because I was sick. I was feeling terrible,” Biden responded. “Matter of fact, the docs with me, I asked if they did a COVID test because they were trying to figure out what’s 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.”

Asked if he had rewatched the debate or if he realized how badly it was going as the event unfolded, Biden’s answer was hard to follow.

“The whole way I prepared, nobody’s fault, mine, nobody’s fault but mine, I, uh, I prepared what I usually would do, sitting down as I did come back with foreign leaders or the National Security Council for explicit detail and I realized about partway through that, you know, all the — I get quoted from — the New York Times had me down 10 points before the debate, 9 now or whatever the hell it is,” Biden said. “The fact of the matter is that what I looked at is that he also lied 28 times. I couldn’t, I mean the way that the debate ran, not — my fault, no one else’s fault...”

Following a campaign rally in Madison, Wis., and his interview with ABC News, Biden was asked by members of the media if he was considering dropping out of the race.

"I'm completely ruling that out," Biden responded.

Reporters pressed Biden on why he was convinced he was still the best candidate to beat Trump, even after his much-criticized debate performance against him last week.

"Because I've beaten him before, and I've gotten more than any president has," Biden responded.

Biden said he had spoken to at least 20 members of Congress who he said have told him to stay in the race.

The president was also asked about a report that Democratic Sen. Mark Warner of Virginia was contacting other senators to have them call on Biden to drop out of the race.

"Mark Warner, my understanding, is the only one considering that," he said.

Three House Democrats have already urged Biden to drop out.

Some of the Democratic Party's wealthiest donors have publicly withdrawn their support for Biden's reelection campaign after his debate against Trump. The Hollywood Reporter also reported that some celebrities who are staunch Democrats, like Steven Spielberg, George Clooney and Jimmy Kimmel, have remained silent.

Here are a few of what the Hollywood Reporter has called some of Biden's most "deep-pocketed supporters" who are halting their donations:

• Reed Hastings, the Netflix co-founder and CEO, who has reportedly donated more than $20 million to the party over the past few years.

• Ari Emanuel, the Endeavor CEO described as a "prolific Democratic donor."

• Abigail Disney, a filmmaker, philanthropist and granddaughter of Roy Disney, the co-founder of the Walt Disney Co., who has helped fund the party for years, including making a $50,000 donation to a climate change PAC in April 2024.

• Damon Lindelof, a Hollywood screenwriter and "lifelong Democrat."

• Barry Diller, the IAC and Expedia Group chairman and executive who reportedly donated $100,000 to Biden and the party's super-PAC in 2023.

Per the Hollywood Reporter:

Biden's Friday interview with ABC News will be just the second of his presidency with host George Stephanopoulos, and his total number of televised interviews lags behind those of other modern presidents. According to USA Today, Biden "currently holds the record for the fewest press conferences and media interviews held by presidents in over 40 years."

After the rally in Madison, Biden headed to the event's overflow room, where he told supporters and others that he had to leave to meet with news anchor George Stephanopoulos.

The interview is set to air at 8 p.m. ET on ABC. A clip from the sit-down will first appear on World News Tonight in the 6:30 p.m. ET hour.

The high-stakes sit-down will be an opportunity for Biden, 81, to present a sharper image than he did during the debate, when Biden spoke haltingly and appeared to lose his train of thought multiple times.

Stephanopoulos — who interviewed Biden once before during his presidency — is expected to conduct an "intensive and probing" interview, according to the Associated Press.

White House press secretary Karina Jean-Pierre said "millions of Americans" are expected to watch.

The New York Times reports on Kamala Harris's reintroduction to the public discussion as a potential Democratic nominee should Biden bow out of the race. Biden has insisted he's going nowhere, and he did so again on Friday at his Wisconsin campaign rally. But the president has been unable to quash discussions about who might replace him.

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