President Joe Biden repeatedly dodged and demurred about undergoing an independent medical exam that would include a full neurological and cognitive evaluation, saying he’s tested in those ways every day by the rigors of running the country.
Biden pushed back no less than five times when asked if he’s had the evaluations or if he thinks he should in a 22-minute unedited interview with ABC News’ George Stephanopoulos that aired Friday night.
“I have a full neurological test every day with me,” Biden said when asked the first time if he’s had a neurological and cognitive evaluation. “And I've had a full physical. I had — you know, I mean — I've been at Walter Reed for my physicals. I mean — yes. The answer is —"
“Have you had specific cognitive test and had a neurologist specialist do the exam?” Stephanopoulos asked.
“No one said I had to. No one said — they said I’m good,” Biden replied.
Stephanopoulos then asked if Biden would be willing to undergo such an evaluation and release the results publicly.
“Look, I have a cognitive test every single day. Every day, I've had tests. Everything I do,” Biden said. “You know, not only am I campaigning, I'm running the world. And that sounds like hyperbole, but we are the central nation of the world. Madeleine Albright was right.”
Biden then rattled off his calendar for the day and added how he’s “taking on [Russian President Vladimir] Putin.”
“I mean, every day — there's no day I go through there are not those decisions I have to make every single day,” Biden added.
Stephanopoulos asked a fourth time if he would take one to assuage the concerns of millions of Americans who watched Biden repeatedly fail to finish a thought and trail off or misspeak during last week’s debate with Republican presumptive nominee Donald Trump.
“Watch me between — there’s a lot of time left in this campaign. Over 125 days,” Biden said.
So the answer is no, Stephanopoulos asked.
“I’ve already done it,” Biden said before the interview moved on.
'If Lord Almighty tells me to drop out, I will'
Later in the interview, Stephanopoulos asked Biden about whether he would drop out of the presidential race, either if he thought he couldn’t defeat Trump or if he was asked by Democratic leaders.
First, Stephanopoulos asked if Biden would drop out if he’s convinced he can’t win.
“It depends; if the Lord almighty himself comes down and tells me that, I might do that,” Biden said.
Stephanopoulos asked what he would do if Democratic leaders Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, D-N.Y., and/or former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., approached him about dropping out.
“I'd go into detail with them," he said, adding that he has spoken to "all of them in detail, including [South Carolina Rep.] Jim Clyburn. Every one of them. They all said I should stay in the race. Stay in the race. None of the people said I should leave."
But if they do, Stephanopoulos asked.
“It's like — they're not going to do that,” Biden replied. “Yeah, I'm sure. Look. I mean — if the Lord almighty came down and said, Joe, get out of the race, I'd get out of the race. The Lord almighty's not coming down. These hypotheticals, George, if — I mean, if all ..."
“I have met with them. I've met with a lot of these people. I've talked with them regularly. I had an hour conversation with Hakeem. I had more time — Jim Clyburn. I spent time, many hours off and on the last little bit with Chuck Schumer. It's not like — I had all the governors. All the governors.”
If you’re told from allies/friends/supporters they’re concerned you’re going to lose the House and the Senate, what will you do? Stephanopoulos asked.
“I'm not going to answer that question. It's not going to happen.”
‘No indication of any serious condition’
Biden, in an attempt to assuage the fears and anxieties at all levels of the Democratic Party, said that it was a “bad episode” — not a condition — that led to his debate performance last week, widely panned as disastrous be members of his own party.
Biden answered the rhetorical question of Pelosi, who earlier this week said it was fair to ask if Biden had a bad episode during the first presidential debate “or is this a 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, and I had a bad night,” Biden told Stephanopoulos in the taped interview.
Stephanopoulos interviewed Biden on Friday after a campaign rally in Madison, Wisconsin, where Biden completely ruled out quitting the presidential race, saying, “I am running, and I'm going to win again.”
Stephanopoulos asked Biden why he was still exhausted even after 11 days home from his last European trip to the G7 summit.
“Because I was sick. I was feeling terrible. Matter of fact, the doctors with me, I asked if they did a COVID test, trying to figure out what was wrong,” Biden answered. “He did a test to see whether or not I had some infection, you know, a virus. I didn't. He just said a really bad cold.”
Biden responded, “I don’t think I did” when asked if he rewatched the debate in subsequent days, though he accused Trump of lying 28 times during the 90-minute prime time show.
Biden gave a winding answer about whether he realized how badly the debate was going as it was happening.
“The whole way I prepared — nobody's fault, mine; nobody's fault but mine. I prepared what I usually would do; sitting down as I did, come back with foreign leaders or National Security Council for explicit detail. And I realized about partway through that, you know, all the — quoted The New York Times had me down 10 points before the debate, 9 now or whatever the hell it is. 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 — not my fault, nobody else's fault, no one else's fault,” Biden said before Stephanopoulos cut in with another question.
“Well, I just had a bad night,” Biden said.