00:00I am not a young man, obviously.
00:02I'm not as a good debater as I used to be.
00:04I don't talk as smooth, I don't talk as...
00:06I don't walk as easily as I used to.
00:08He owned that the debate was not his best night.
00:11Is President Biden considering stepping down?
00:14Absolutely not.
00:16And you heard, I believe, directly from the campaign as well.
00:19How can he return, though?
00:21And he blamed jet lag yesterday.
00:23Hold on a second.
00:24Look, it is not unusual for a president to use a teleprompter.
00:27It is not unusual.
00:28I didn't get into the president specifically about what he meant by that,
00:31so I want to be really mindful.
00:32I don't want to get into that.
00:34But I think what the president was trying to say
00:36is that he had a schedule that was rigorous,
00:40you know, the travel that he had to do,
00:43crossing multiple, obviously, you know,
00:48going from Italy all the way to the West Coast.
00:53And I think, as you know, that can have a toll on anyone,
00:58whether you're 20 or 80, that can have a toll on you.
01:01And so I think that's what he was alluding to, speaking to.
01:05I don't want to go beyond that because I haven't spoken to him
01:08on the other component of when he was speaking about his staff.
01:13But as it relates to, certainly, the travel, it was rigorous.
01:17He had a rigorous travel.
01:18We talk about it sometimes.
01:19I think I've mentioned this with some of your colleagues,
01:22that he has a, especially when he travels abroad,
01:25it's a pretty rigorous travel.
01:27We get tired looking at him doing his meetings and traveling.
01:31And so I think that's what he was speaking to.
01:34And I don't think it has a toll on, regardless of what age you are,
01:38it has a toll on you, that type of travel.
01:41Okay.
01:42Thank you.
01:43There's no question that international travel can be rigorous.
01:45I think the confusion is that he's still suffering from the effects of that
01:49nearly two weeks later.
01:51So can you articulate a little bit about, like,
01:54do you guys usually have accommodations for him after he does a trip,
01:58that he's going to have jet lag for that long a period of time?
02:02So when you say two weeks later, what do you mean?
02:05He arrives back in the United States 12 or 13 days before the debate.
02:09So his explanation for a poor debate performance is jet lag.
02:13So what I want to say is it's the jet lag and also the cold, right?
02:18It is the two things that occurred.
02:22And you all heard it in his voice when he did the debate, right?
02:27And it is not even something that we shared ahead of time.
02:29You heard it in his voice, and we confirmed it.
02:32And I think that's important to note as well.
02:34Like, it is the jet lag and the cold.
02:37But I want to be really clear here.
02:39This is not an excuse, right?
02:41This is not an excuse.
02:42You all asked for an explanation, and we're giving an explanation.
02:45It is not an excuse.
02:47I don't want that to be the leading piece of this.
02:51The only reason we're sharing this, because it was asked of me here,
02:54and the President certainly wanted to give an explanation himself,
02:57and that's what he did yesterday.
02:59We understand that it wasn't his best night, it wasn't a great debate.
03:05We understand that, and we understand what supporters saw,
03:09what the American people saw, and what you all saw.
03:11And so we wanted to give an explanation.
03:14So I don't want to get into this, oh, are you giving this excuse, not an excuse.
03:18We're giving you what our explanation was.
03:21We want to continue to make sure that we do everything that we can
03:26to deliver for the American people.
03:28That's what we're going to continue to do.
03:30I also want to ask just about the schedule again.
03:33Because a lot of high-level Democrats, I think,
03:36were concerned with the debate performance,
03:38but they've also been almost just as or more concerned about the response since then,
03:43that he hasn't done more.
03:45He spoke for four minutes in public on Monday evening on the Supreme Court decision,
03:50and he spoke for about ten minutes in public yesterday with the emergency weather situation.
03:56And he's going to speak today.
03:57He's going to go to Wisconsin.
03:59He's going to go to Pennsylvania.
04:00This truly is an emergency situation.
04:02It's taking almost a week for him to sort of address it.
04:05When there's natural disasters, when there's other things happening,
04:08he wants to get in front of the cameras and speak to it.
04:11In this case, there seems to be multiple days before it happens.
04:14Matt, I would disagree with you.
04:15He did address it.
04:16He addressed it on Friday in North Carolina in front of hundreds of supporters.
04:20He addressed it.
04:22And he talked about an issue that you all ask me about all the time, his age.
04:27Like, he took it head on, literally head on.
04:30He didn't run away from it.
04:31He didn't hide from it.
04:33He said, I am not a young man, obviously.
04:36I'm not as a good debater as I used to be.
04:38I don't talk as smooth.
04:39I don't walk as easily as I used to.
04:42He said it himself to hundreds of supporters in North Carolina.
04:46So I would disagree that he didn't take this head on.
04:49He did.
04:50He did.
04:51He talked about it in front of supporters.
04:55He's had one instance with that, and he's called six people.
04:59But by the way, that matters, right?
05:01Engaging with the American people and standing in front of them
05:04and being honest about that and talking about age.
05:09Again, something that you all ask me about all the time.
05:12He took that right on.
05:14Now, he is talking and engaging with leaders.
05:18That is something that he's doing.
05:20He's having good conversations with them.
05:22He's going to meet with Democratic governors,
05:24governors who he believes have been really strong partners with him
05:28and delivering on some of these historic accomplishments.
05:31But I would disagree on him not taking this head on.
05:38I mean, being in North Carolina and taking that head on,
05:43obviously that's not the speech that he was going to give on Thursday,
05:46before the debate.
05:49So he understood when he got to North Carolina that he needed to address it,
05:54and he decided to do it in front of supporters.
05:57And he talked about it.
05:58But he understands the concerns.
06:00He understands what people saw.
06:03And that's why he's spoken to it multiple times.
06:06And he's spoken about his age, for example, multiple times,
06:09not just this past Friday.
06:12And he gets it.
06:14He gets it.
06:15We get it.
06:17And so what we're going to do is continue to look forward,
06:22continue to work on behalf of the American people.
06:25And there is a record here.
06:26There is a record here that we can speak to.
06:29There is a record here that matters to a majority of Americans.
06:32We were able to turn some things around, whether it's the pandemic,
06:36the economy, expanding health care.
06:38All of those things matter to the American people.
06:41And so that's going to be certainly our focus.
06:44But, you know, the president gets it, guys.
06:47He does.
06:48He gets what people saw and how people felt.
06:51He was on the way to the debate.
06:53The doctor was with him.
06:54He had a cold.
06:55He's 81.
06:56Does he not get checked out by the doctor?
06:58I can tell you he did not get checked out by the doctor.
07:02It's a cold, guys.
07:03It's a cold.
07:04And I know that it affects everybody differently.
07:07We have all had colds.
07:09And so, no, he was not checked by the doctor.
07:12What was your other question?
07:13How does he look today?
07:14Does he still have the cold?
07:15Well, I saw him today.
07:16My team and I saw him today.
07:17He looked great.
07:18And he was with the vice president.
07:19They both look great.
07:20I know I was asked yesterday if he still had a cold.
07:23I think he still has a lingering cold.
07:25But he is ready to go.
07:28He's ready to go.
07:29I kind of have to wrap it up.
07:30Go ahead.
07:31Thanks, Karine.
07:32Sources have told ABC that the president recognizes how
07:35difficult his political predicament is.
07:37So, how has his mood been as of late?
07:40Has he been down?
07:41Has he been frustrated?
07:42I just mentioned, I think, multiple times at this point
07:45that I got to see him.
07:47My team and I got to see him and the vice president.
07:49He's great.
07:50He's, like, in a great mood.
07:53Ready to get things going.
07:54He's going to do the Medal of Honor later today.
07:57He's going to meet with Democratic governors.
07:59And that's kind of what you want to see, right,
08:02from your leader.
08:03Has he had any frustrations with you at all?
08:05What I can say is that he wants to move forward.
08:08That's what he wants to do.
08:09He wants to move forward.
08:10Acknowledge, right?
08:11Acknowledge what happened.
08:13Be very clear-eyed about it.
08:15And very forthcoming and honest about what you all saw.
08:20But he also knows that he's the president of the United States.
08:23He has to continue to work and deliver
08:25on behalf of the American people.
08:27That's what he has to continue to do.
08:29And that's how he's going to move forward.
08:32All right, everybody.
08:33Thanks, everyone.
