A defiant President Biden has set up another primetime interview amid continuing pressure from donors and a growing list of Hill Democrats to drop out of the presidential race.
“NBC Nightly News” anchor Lester Holt will sit down with Biden for a taped interview that will air Monday at 9 p.m., the first day of the Republican National Convention.
The one-on-one will be the second cable TV appearance since the president’s June 27 debate debacle, which prompted calls for him to step aside over concerns about his mental and physical fitness.
Biden’s interview, which will be taped in Austin, Texas, comes after he sat down with ABC News’s George Stephanopoulos last week in an attempt to ease concerns about his candidacy. According to Biden’s former press secretary Jen Psaki, however, he just did “OK.”
“He looked better than he did at the debate … but there were also some moments — and not just one — that did not go well,” she admitted.
Biden’s response when Stephanopoulos asked him how he would feel if he stayed in the race and then lost to former President Donald Trump was one such example.
“I’ll feel as long as I gave it my all and I did the goodest job as I know I can do, that’s what this is about,” Biden answered, according to the original ABC transcript, which editors altered after pressure from Biden’s team.
MONDAY: President Joe Biden to sit down with NBC News' Lester Holt in an exclusive one-on-one interview.
— Breaking News (@BreakingNews) July 10, 2024
Watch the interview in its entirety on NBC and NBC News NOW on Monday, July 15 at 9 p.m. ET. https://t.co/y5MaPWbGAa pic.twitter.com/f7Knhlh10S
NBC News says it will release an unedited transcript of the the Biden interview with Lester Holt after the interview airs Monday night (unclear to me if "full interview" that's going to air means "unedited interview", but it seems like it) pic.twitter.com/prM7g9Z60s
— Steve Lookner (@lookner) July 10, 2024