Biden sits for crucial post-debate interview with George Stephanopoulos on ABC: Live updates

Joe Biden said that only “The Lord Almighty” would make him step down from the presidential race, despite growing calls for him to drop out.

ABC anchor George Stephanopoulos put to him that by remaining in the race, he was echoing the sentiment of his rival Donald Trump – that he was “only out for himself”.

“How do you respond to critics who say that by staying in the race, you’re doing the same thing?” Stephanopoulos asked him.

“Oh, come on. Well, I don’t think those critics know what they’re talking about,” Biden said. “They’re just wrong… Look, Trump is a pathological liar. You ever see Trump do anything for the benefit of somebody else, not him?

“I convinced myself of two things: I’m the most qualified person to [beat him]. And I know how to get things done.”

Stephanopoulos asked him: “If you can be convinced that you cannot defeat Donald Trump, will you stand down?

“Look, I mean, if the Lord Almighty came down and says ‘Joe, get out of the race the I’d get out of the race. The Lord Almighty is not coming down. These are hypotheticals,” Biden replied.

Asked by Stephanopoulos if he would consider dropping out if his friends and allies in the Democratic Party, he said: “I’m not going to answer that question. It’s not going to happen.”

In a “more personal” question, George Stephanopoulos asked Joe Biden: “Are you sure you’re being honest with yourself when you say you have the mental and physical capacity to serve another four years?”

“Yes, I am, because George, the last thing I want to do is not be able to meet that,” Biden replied.

“Some of the senior economists, the senior foreign policy specialists say, if I stop now, I go down in history as a pretty successful president. No one thought I could get there, then we got there.”

Stephanopoulos pressed him: “But are you being honest with yourself as well about your ability to defeat Donald Trump right now?”

“Yes, yes, yes,” Biden said.

President Biden dodged questions about whether he would be willing to undergo an independent medical evaluation that included neurological and cognitive cognitive tests and then release the results to the American people.

Speaking during a sit-down ABC interview he said: “Look, I have a cognitive test every single day.

“Every day I have that test – everything we do, you know, not only in my campaign, but I’m running the world, and that’s not how it sounds like hyperbole, but we are the central nation of the world.”

Pressed again by ABC anchor George Stephanopoulos on taking such tests and making the results public, he said: “Watch me between, there’s a lot of time left in this campaign – over 125 days.”

The full sit-down interview with president Joe Biden and ABC anchor George Stephanopoulos will air shortly.

It is the first interview the president has done since his poor performance in the presidential debate against Donald Trump, during which he spoke in a raspy voice, became confused and appeared to lose his train of thought mid-sentence.

In a previous clip, Biden claimed full responsibilty for his performance, but reiterated he had been “exhausted” and “feeling terrible”.

President Biden on Friday said he won’t consider standing down from his campaign for a second term in the White House despite growing pressure from him to do so from Democratic members of Congress and donors to his party.

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President Biden said he did not watch his disastrous debate performance against Donald Trump back afterwards.

Asked by ABC anchor George Stephanopoulos during his first interview since the debate last week, if he knew how badly it had been going in real time, he replied: “Look, the whole way I prepared, it was nobody’s fault but mine. I prepared what I usually would do, sitting down…”

Pivoting towards his rival, Trump, he continued: “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 the debate ran [it was] my fault, nobody else’s fault.

Stephanopoulos pressed: “But it seemed like you were having trouble from the first question. In, even before [Trump] spoke.”

“Well, I just had a bad night,” Biden replied.

The former first lady would certainly be a popular choice, according to the polls, but has repeatedly said she wants no further involvement in the cut-throat world of politics.

Martha McHardy looks at the case for Michelle Obama stepping up to the plate.

President Joe Biden has claimed full responsibility for his disastrous debate performance against Donald Trump last week.

In a new sit-down interview with ABC’s George Stephanopoulos, due to air in full at 8pm, the president reiterated that he had been ill prior to the debate, but said his performance was “nobody’s fault but mine.”

In a clip, broadcast earlier on the network’s “World News Tonight”, the president addressed concerns raised by senior Democrats, including Nancy Pelosi, about whether the debate was a sign of a more serious condition.

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

Biden had indeed had a busy schedule prior to the debate, including visits to the US West Coast and France for the D-Day anniversary, but had returned to Washington with more than a week in hand.

Asked why 11 or 12 days was not enough recovery time, he replied: “Because I was sick. I was feeling terrible. Matter of fact, the doctors with me, I asked that they did a Covid test. We were trying to figure out what was 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.”

The full ABC interviews with Biden is set to air at 8pm ET.

Joe Biden is not technically the Democratic Party’s nominee for president. Not yet.

So is it possible for Joe Biden to drop out? And who would replace him at the top of the Democratic ballot?

John Bowden takes a look: