Washington:
Joe Biden thinks he could have won reelection had he stayed in the race for the White House, he said in an interview published Wednesday — while admitting he wasn’t sure he would have served another full term.
The 82-year-old Democrat, who leaves office on January 20, was asked by USA Today whether he believed a victory over Republican Donald Trump last November was a realistic prospect, and he pointed to unspecified polls and said: “I I think so.”
‘I really thought I had the best chance of beating him. But I also didn’t plan on being president when I was 85 years old, 86 years old. And so I did talk about passing the baton,” Biden said.
“But I don’t know. Who knows? So far so good. But who knows what I’ll become when I’m 86 years old?”
Biden, the oldest US president in history, faced persistent questions about his mental fitness before withdrawing from the election after a disastrous televised debate against Trump in which he appeared unable to argue for another term.
He has given fewer sit-down interviews and press conferences than any president since Ronald Reagan, and USA Today was the only print media to schedule a one-on-one interview before Biden leaves office.
Biden was asked about regrets from the past four years, but made no mention of the presidential debate, or his decision to break his promise to be a one-term president and a “bridge” to the next generation.
Instead, he complained about misinformation — pointing to falsehoods spread by Trump and others about two New Year’s Eve bombings in New Orleans and Las Vegas — and the slow pace of infrastructure projects.
“I think we would have been a lot better off if we could have worked a lot harder to get some of these projects off the ground faster,” he said.
Washington has been abuzz with debate since Trump’s victory over possible pre-emptive pardons for those who may be in the Republican leader’s crosshairs if he returns to office.
Biden confirmed that he was considering the idea but had not yet decided.
He described how, during their Oval Office meeting shortly after the election, he told Trump not to go after perceived enemies, warning that it was “counterintuitive to his interest to go back and try to settle scores .”
Trump listened but didn’t answer, Biden said.
Because of his legacy, the veteran Democrat said he wanted to be remembered for having a plan to rebuild the post-pandemic economy and restore American global leadership.
‘That was my hope. I mean, you know, who knows?’ Biden said. “And I hope that history will show that I did it honestly and with integrity, that I said what I thought.”
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)