Biden says he 'screwed up' during presidential debate with Trump

(NewsNation) — President Joe Biden said he “screwed up” while debating former President Donald Trump last week. 

“I had a bad night,” the president told Milwaukee radio host Earl Ingram. “And the fact of the matter is that I screwed up. I made a mistake.”

He continued: “I learned from my father, when you get knocked down, you just get back up,” later adding: “I didn’t have a good debate. That’s 90 minutes onstage, look at what I’ve done in 3.5 years.”

The interview marked the first time Biden has addressed his widely criticized performance in an interview format since the debate. While facing off against Trump, Biden stumbled through his words and appeared at times to be confused. And although Trump made multiple false statements during the debate, Biden’s age took center stage. 

Democrats sounded the alarm after the debate, reigniting concerns Biden may be too old to serve another term. The president has tried recovering in other public appearances, but some Democrats have started openly calling for him to step away from the presidential race. 

Rep. Seth Moulton, D-Mass., said Democrats should consider “all viable options” for the 2024 election.

“When your current strategy isn’t working, it’s rarely the right decision to double down. President Biden is not going to get younger,” the Democrat wrote Wednesday.

Former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., suggested it would be fair for voters to question whether Biden has a condition after the debate. 

“I think it’s a legitimate question to say is this an episode or is this a condition,” she told MSNBC. “And so, when people ask that question [it is] legitimate.”

The White House has been busy pushing back against claims Biden is thinking about taking his hat out of the ring. 

A recent report by the New York Times cited an ally of the president who said Biden is weighing whether he should bow out of the 2024 election. The White House claims they were not given adequate time to respond to the story, with spokesperson Andrew Bates posting: “This claim is absolutely false and if we had been given more than 7 minutes we could have communicated this before it was publicized.”

In a fundraising email shared Thursday, the Biden campaign insisted the 81-year-old president isn’t going anywhere.

“I’m the Democratic Party’s nominee. No one is pushing me out. I’m not leaving. I’m in this race to the end,” a portion of the email reads.

Biden’s latest interview, which aired Thursday morning on WAUK-AM, was recorded the same day more than 20 Democratic governors met with him both virtually and at the White House. Amid the growing concerns over Biden’s age, the small group of Democratic governors pledged their support to the president. 

Maryland Gov. Wes Moore, who is considered a rising star in the Democratic party, and whose name has been floated as a possible replacement for Biden, told reporters after the meeting that the group will continue to stand with the president. 

“The president has always had our backs, we’re going to have his back as well,” Moore said.

If Democrats do push to replace Biden at the party convention in August, it could get complicated. Since the president faced no meaningful challenges during the primaries, a majority of state delegates are already pledged to support him. 

It’s not a strict requirement for delegates to follow the primary results of their state, but it is expected that they represent what voters want. If Biden takes himself off the ticket, it’s unknown what would happen with the delegates already pledged to him.

Initial post-debate polling shows Biden falling behind Trump with 44.2% of polled voters supporting Trump and 43.3% backing Biden. 

NewsNation’s Steph Whiteside and Kellie Meyer, along with The Hill contributed to this report.

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