Biden Says Debate Flop Was a ‘Bad Episode,’ Not a Sign of Serious Cognitive Decline, in First Post-Debate Interview

President Biden dismissed his disastrous debate performance as a “bad episode” and insisted there is “no indication” he has any “serious condition,” during his first post-debate interview on Friday.

“I was exhausted,” Biden told ABC News’s George Stephanopoulos. “I didn’t listen to my instincts in terms of preparing, and I had a bad night.”

During last month’s debate, Biden struggled to form coherent sentences and, at times, appeared downright confused. Biden’s debate performance has caused widespread panic among Democrats, leading to calls from major Democratic donors and at least three House Democrats for Biden to drop out of the race. 

The ABC News interview offered Biden a chance to slow the growing concern that he is not mentally fit for office.

While Biden said Friday that he was “exhausted” the night of the debate, Stephanopoulos noted that the president had returned from Europe nearly two weeks before debate day and had spent six days on debate prep at Camp David.

But Biden said he was sick and “feeling terrible” the night of the debate.

“I just had a really bad cold,” he said.

He also claimed he allowed Trump’s “shouting” during the debate while his microphone was muted to distract him.

Asked during the interview whether he watched the debate afterward, Biden confusingly replied, “I don’t think I did.”

Stephanopoulos asked Biden if he knew during the debate how poorly it was going. Biden again offered a hard-to-decipher response.

“Yeah, look. The whole way I prepared — nobody’s fault but 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 I get quoted the New York Times had me down 10 points before the debate, 9 now or whatever the hell it is.”

The poll, however, had Biden down just three points before the debate. He now trails Trump by six points. According to a FiveThirtyEight polling average, Biden has hit his lowest approval rating of his presidency since the debate.

During the interview on Friday, Biden blamed Trump’s allegedly lying 28 times during the debate for making the performance more difficult.

Stephanopoulos noted it seemed that Biden was struggling from the very beginning of the night, even before Trump spoke.

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

Biden insisted he is not frail and that he undergoes a “full neurological test everyday.” But asked if he would be willing to undergo an independent medical evaluation and release the results to the public, Biden deflected and then ultimately declined.

“I don’t think anybody’s more qualified to be president or win this race than me,” Biden insisted.

The interview comes as the Washington Post reports that Senator Mark Warner (D., Va.) is looking to assemble a group of Democratic senators to ask Biden to exit the race.

Biden dismissed the reporting. “Mark is a good man, but he also tried to get the nomination too. Mark and I have a different perspective, I respect him,” he said.

And while a group of Democratic governors had come together to defend Biden in the days after the debate, Massachusetts governor Maura Healy struck a different tone in a statement on Friday: “The best way forward right now is a decision for the President to make. 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.”

Still, Biden and his campaign have remained insistent that he plans to stay in the race. He told Stephanopoulos he would only end his campaign if the Lord Almighty comes down and tells him to.

The campaign has charted a path forward that involves Biden appearing at more casual, unscripted events, CNN reports, along with a $50 million ad buy to run in battleground states this month around “key events, including the Olympic Games and the Republican National Convention. The campaign plans to run TV, radio, and digital ads on “the issues that will decide this election,” including “a woman’s right to make her own health care decisions, economic relief and opportunities for middle- and working-class families, and the threat Donald Trump poses to our democracy and the rule of law.”

Biden’s “aggressive travel schedule” this month will take him, the vice president, the first lady, and the second gentleman to every battleground state.

Biden “can also be expected to engage in frequent off-the-cuff moments over the course of the month, as he has consistently throughout this campaign,” the campaign said in its announcement.