US President Joe Biden said he would have defeated Donald Trump and been re-elected in November.
In an interview with USA Today Exclusive InterviewBut Biden added that he wasn’t sure he could last another four years in office.
“So far so good,” the 82-year-old said. “But who knows what I’ll be like when I’m 86?”
In a wide-ranging interview with Susan Page, Biden also said he was still considering preemptive pardons for Donald Trump’s enemies, including former Republican Rep. Liz Cheney and former top health official Anthony Fauci.
In an interview published Wednesday, Biden said he was “very candid with Trump” about the possibility of a pardon during an Oval Office meeting shortly after the November election.
“I tried to make it clear that there was no need to, and it was counterintuitive to his interests to go back and try to settle scores,” Biden said, adding that Trump did not back down and “just basically listened.”
Biden said his final decision will depend on who Trump selects for his Cabinet.
At the same meeting, Biden said Trump “complimented” him on his economic record.
“He (Trump) thought I would leave with a good record,” the Democrat said.
The interview with USA Today is the only exit interview Biden has given to a print publication to date.
Media access to Biden has been tightly controlled by the White House, and the president has not held a news conference since withdrawing from the race on July 21.
In the interview, he also defended the outgoing president. He granted a full and unconditional pardon to his son Hunter Biden. He was sentenced for two criminal cases: tax evasion and illegal firearm purchase. Despite repeated claims that he would not do so.
Biden, who first came to the Capitol as a U.S. senator in 1972, was criticized by his party for showing reluctance to drop out of the presidential race due to concerns about his age and mental acuity.
In an interview with USA Today, Biden said he believed he would win “according to the polls,” but acknowledged that his age may have played a role in his public service.
“When Trump ran for re-election, I really thought I had the best chance of beating him. But I also had no intention of becoming president when I was 85, 86 years old,” Biden said. “But I don’t know. Who knows?”
After Vice President Kamala Harris lost to Trump, senior Democratic lawmakers, including former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, said the Democratic Party: If Biden had dropped out of the race sooner, he may have performed better in the election..
