Joe Biden on his debate performance: “It was a bad night, I was exhausted”

Joe Biden has given his first television interview since his disasterous debate performance against Donald Trump at the end of June. The president was asked various questions about his poor performance and concerns from many within his own party that he may suffer from a more serious condition that would inhibit his ability to lead the country.

Biden told ABC News’s George Stephanopoulos that it was a bad night. “Was this a serious episode or the sign of a more serious condition?” asked Stephanopoulos.

“It was a bad episode,” Biden said. “There is no indication of any serious condition. I was exhausted. I didn’t listen to my instincts in terms of preparation and it was a bad night,” added Biden.

Previously, at a campaign event in Wisconsin, President Biden had indicated that his poor performance in the debate was due to fatigue caused by the two foreign trips he made in June, including his visit to France to commemorate the 80th anniversary of D-Day. However, these trips occured eleven days before the debate, undermining the stregth of the argument to some extent. Upon his return he subsequently spent close to a week at Camp David in the run-up to the debate to meet with advisers and prepare to face Trump.

Biden reveals he was sick

The White House Press Secretary also added the President Biden had a cold the night of the debate to explain the performance. When asked by Stephanopoulos, about the way his illness impacted his prep time, the president responded that it had distrupted the schedule.

“I felt terrible,” admitted President Biden, adding that his doctors had given him a COVID test and were “trying to figure out what was wrong.” President Biden has said that coming down with a cold cut down on his preperation time. “They just said I had a really bad cold,” affired the president.

“No one is to blame, it is mine”

Stephanopoulos also questioned Biden about whether he had watched the debate, to which he responded that he had not, but that he was aware that things were not going well as the debate progressed. This section of the interivew is a bit rough for the president, as he attempted to excuse the perforamce while also attacking Donald Trump.

“I realized, halfway through that, you know, everything,” said the president, trailing off to pivot to an attack on Donald Trump.

“The thing is, he also lied 28 times,” said President Biden, who followed up by explaining that because of the structure of the debate he was caught off guard when Trump would respond to questions. Once again, he followed up by taking full responsibility for the night, and did not point fingers at the CNN moderators.