President Biden three times dodged questions about whether he would undergo a neurological test in one of the most contentious moments of his first interview since his widely criticized performance in last week's presidential debate.
“Have you had a full neurological and cognitive evaluation?” ABC News' George Stephanopoulos asked Biden in an interview that took place Friday afternoon and aired that evening.
Biden responded: “I get a full neurological screening every day. I've had a full physical exam… I've been to Walter Reed for my physicals.”
Stephanopoulos again pressed the president to take a neurological test, and Biden again evaded it.
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President Biden raised eyebrows when he expressed uncertainty about whether he had seen his debate performance in an interview with ABC's George Stephanopoulos. (Screenshot/ABC)
“Have you had specific cognitive tests and been examined by a neurologist, a specialist?” Stephanopoulos asked.
“No, nobody told me I had to do it… They said it was OK,” Biden replied.
Stephanopoulos pressed Biden a third time to take a cognitive or neurological test and, if he agreed, asked if Biden would make the results of that test public. However, the president ignored the question, saying he takes tests every day in his role as president.
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“Look, I take a cognitive test every day,” Biden said. “Every day I take that test. In everything I do. You know, I'm not just campaigning, I'm running the world. It sounds like hyperbole, but we are the central nation of the world.”
He added: “And every day, for example, today, before I come here, I'm on the phone with the prime minister of… Well, anyway, I shouldn't go into details, but with Netanyahu. I'm on the phone with the new prime minister of England. I'm working on what we're doing with respect to Europe, with respect to NATO expansion and whether it's going to last. I'm confronting Putin. I mean, every day, there's not a day that goes by that I don't have to make those decisions every day.”
President Biden's disastrous debate performance “changed people's calculations about how candid they would be” about his cognitive problems, according to Olivia Nuzzi. ((Photo by Justin Sullivan/Getty Images) | (Photo by ANDREW CABALLERO-REYNOLDS/AFP via Getty Images) | Photo by Justin Sullivan/Getty Images))
Biden’s ABC interview is his first extensive one-on-one interview since the disastrous debate against former President Donald Trump last Thursday, which heightened concerns about the president’s mental acuity and age and sparked a wave of calls from traditional Democratic allies and establishment media outlets such as the New York Times for the president to drop out of the race.
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The president's disastrous debate performance included stumbling over words, sometimes losing his train of thought and responding in a hoarse voice. His slow, deliberate demeanor was not as good compared to the man he faced: Trump.
Former President Trump participates in the first presidential debate at CNN Studios in Atlanta, Georgia, on June 27. (Kyle Mazza/Anadolu via Getty Images)
Biden, his administration and his campaign have remained adamant that Biden will remain in the race despite growing calls for someone else, such as Vice President Kamala Harris, to step in and become the party's nominee for November.
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Biden said during the interview that he is aware that he had a poor performance during the debate and told Stephanopoulos that it was simply a “bad episode.”
“There was no indication of a serious condition. I was exhausted,” Biden said. “I didn't listen to my instincts in terms of preparation. It was a bad night.”
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He added: “I prepared throughout the process, it was nobody's fault, it was mine. It was nobody's fault but mine,” Biden said. “I prepared what I would normally do sitting down, as I did when I came back with foreign leaders or the National Security Council, for explicit details.
