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MADISON, Wis. — President Joe Biden, fighting to save his endangered reelection effort, used a TV interview Friday to repeatedly reject taking an independent medical evaluation that would show voters he is up for serving another term in office while blaming his disastrous debate performance on a "bad episode" and saying there were "no indications of any serious condition."
"Look, I have a cognitive test every single day," Biden told ABC's George Stephanopoulos, referring to the tasks he faces daily in a rigorous job. "Every day, I've had tests. Everything I do."
Biden made it through the 22-minute interview without any major blunders that would inflict further damage to his imperiled candidacy, but it appeared unlikely to fully tamp down concerns about his age and fitness for another four years and his ability to defeat Donald Trump in November.
It left Biden in a standoff against a not-insignificant faction of his party with four months to go until Election Day, and with just weeks until the Democratic National Convention. The drawn-out spectacle could benefit Biden's efforts to remain in the race by limiting the party's options to replace him. But it also could be a distraction from efforts to frame the 2024 race as a referendum on Trump.
During the interview, Biden insisted he was not more frail than he was in 2020. He said he undergoes "ongoing assessment" by his personal doctors and they "don't hesitate to tell me" if something is wrong.
"Can I run the 100 in 10 flat? No. But I'm still in good shape," Biden said.
As for the debate, "I didn't listen to my instincts in terms of preparing," Biden said.
Biden suggested that Trump's disruptions at the debate — while standing just a few feet from him — had flustered him: "I realized that, even when I was answering a question and they turned his mic off, he was still shouting and I let it distract me. I'm not blaming it on that. But I realized that I just wasn't in control."
Asked how he might turn the race around, Biden argued that one key would be large and energetic rallies like the one he held Friday in Wisconsin. When pressed that Trump routinely draws larger crowds, the president laid into his opponent.
"Trump is a pathological lair," Biden said, accusing Trump of bungling the federal response to the COVID-19 pandemic and failing to create jobs. "You ever see something that Trump did that benefited someone else and not him?"
Biden also insisted he was the "most qualified" to lead Democrats against Trump, the presumptive Republican presidential nominee.
'I will beat him again'
Internal party frustrations continue to fester, with one influential Democratic senator working on a nascent push that would encourage the president to exit the race and Democrats quietly chatting about where they would go next if the president drops out — or what it would mean if he stays in.
"It's President Biden's decision whether or not he remains in the race. Voters select our nominee and they chose him," said California Rep. Ro Khanna, a member of the Biden campaign's national advisory board that works as a gathering of his top surrogates. "Now, he needs to prove to those voters that he is up to the job and that will require more than just this one interview."
Still, in Wisconsin, Biden was focused on proving his capacity to remain as president. When asked whether he would halt his campaign, he told reporters he was "completely ruling that out" and said he is "positive" he could serve for another four years. At a rally in front of hundreds of supporters he acknowledged his subpar debate performance but insisted, "I am running, and I'm going to win again."
"I beat Donald Trump," a forceful Biden said, as the crowd gathered in a local middle school cheered and waved campaign signs. "I will beat him again."
Biden, relying on a teleprompter for his remarks, attacked his presumptive Republican challenger almost immediately, laying into Trump by pointing out that the former president once said that "George Washington's army won the revolution by taking control of the airports from the British."
Amid laughter, Biden continued, "Talk about me misspeaking."
In his speech, Biden tried to flip the questions swirling about his age, asking the crowd whether he was "too old" to have passed gun legislation, created jobs and helped ease student loan debt — while suggesting he'd do more in a second presidential term.
While private angst among Democratic lawmakers, donors and strategists is running deep, most in the party have held public fire as they wait to see if the president can restore confidence with his weekend travel and his handling of the interview.
The top Democrats on House committees are planning to meet virtually Sunday to discuss the situation, according to a person familiar with the gathering granted anonymity to talk about it.
Meanwhile, at least four House Democrats have called for Biden to step down as the nominee, with Rep. Mike Quigley of Illinois joining Massachusetts Rep. Seth Moulton, Texas Rep. Lloyd Doggett and Arizona Rep. Raúl Grijalva in pushing for an alternative. While not going that far, Massachusetts Gov. Maura Healey said in a carefully worded statement Friday that Biden now has a decision to make on "the best way forward."
"Over the coming days, I urge him to listen to the American people and carefully evaluate whether he remains our best hope to defeat Donald Trump," Healey said.
Yet pushback from other House Democrats was fierce.
"Any 'leader' signing a letter calling for President Biden to drop out needs to get their priorities straight and stop undermining this incredible actual leader who has delivered real results for our country," said Rep. Frederica Wilson, D-Fla., an influential member of the Congressional Black Caucus.
Contributing: Joey Cappelletti, Aamer Madhani, Lisa Mascaro and Josh Boak
