Biden mocks ‘stable genius’ Trump as he rallies in Wisconsin to ease post-debate future: Live updates
Biden sits down with George Stephanopoulos during critical week for his re-election campaign
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Joe Biden thrashed Donald Trump in Wisconsin before the president’s major interview with ABC News anchor George Stephanopoulos set to air on Friday evening, a crucial broadcast that his campaign hopes will reset his 2024 plans and reassure voters that he is fit for office after his disastrous debate performance in Atlanta last week.
“I beat Donald Trump. I will beat him again in 2020,” Biden said during an energetic rally on Friday. “I’m not gonna let one 90-minute debate throw out three and a half years of work.”
The former president meanwhile issued a withering attack on the president and Kamala Harris, calling his rival “highly incapable” and saying he “choked like a dog” during the debate while mocking Biden for blaming his poor performance on exhaustion and having a cold.
Turning his attention to the vice president — who is being tipped to succeed the president as the 2024 Democratic nominee — by calling her “Laffin Kamala Harris”, a new nickname alluding to her infectious chuckle.
Trump also challenged Biden to a “no holds barred” debate despite one already being scheduled for September 10 on ABC.
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Watch: Biden roasts ‘stable genius’ Trump in Wisconsin
Full story: Defiant Biden vows to stay in the race as pressure builds to withdraw
A defiant Biden told voters he isn’t going anywhere and pledged to deny Donald Trump a second White House term, even as he continues to face more calls to stand down from the 2024 presidential race amid questions over his fitness to compete for and serve out a second four-year term.
Biden, who spoke to a raucous crowd of supporters in Madison, Wisconsin on Friday, said he is his party’s nominee in this year’s presidential election because of “millions of Democrats like you” who voted for him “in primaries all across America.”
“The voters did that, and despite that, some folks don’t seem to care who you voted for ... they’re trying to push me out of the race,” he said.
“Let me say as clearly as I can: I’m staying in the race. I’ll beat Donald Trump,” he said. “I beat him in 2020 ... and by the way, we’re going to do it again in 2024.”
Andrew Feinberg has more:
Biden still defiant as pressure to withdraw keeps building
Biden says he still thinks he can beat Donald Trump in November
How to watch Biden’s interview with George Stephanopoulos
Joe Biden’s interview with ABC News anchor George Stephanopoulos is schedule to air at 8pm ET and PT on ABC.
“He’ll make a compelling case tonight,” White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre told reporters on Friday.
“He prepared for this like he does every other interview,” she said. “He’s looking forward to not just the interview but certainly talking directly to the American people. We’re expecting millions of Americans are going to watch … and he’s looking forward to it.”
A first clip of the interview will air on ABC’s World News Tonight with David Muir at 6:30pm.
The full interview will be aired again Sunday on This Week with George Stephanopoulos.
ABC said it would also make an edited transcript of the interview available on Friday.
Biden attacks ‘one-man crime wave’: ‘Let’s exile Trump politically'
In his energetic rally speech in Wisconsin, Biden laid out the stakes of the 2024 election, once again warning that the fate of American democracy hangs in the balance if Trump wins.
He referenced Trump’s criminal convictions for falsifying business records to pay off a porn star, and how a jury determined that he sexually assaulted E Jean Carroll and then awarded her $90m for defaming her.
The “so-called great businessman” was fined $400m for fraud in his civil trial in New York, Biden said.
“He’s not just a convicted criminal, he’s a one-man crime wave,” Biden said.
Biden also referenced Trump’s threats to abortion rights and his opposition to gun control measures in the middle of a gun violence crisis.
“Let’s exile Trump politically,” Biden said before leaving the stage.
Biden addresses speculation that he’s dropping out: ‘I’m staying in the race'
Of his debate appearance, Biden said: “I can’t say it was my best performance.”
There’s since been “a lot of speculation: what’s he gonna do?”
“I am running and gonna win again,” he said in forecful remarks.
“I beat Donald Trump. I will beat him again in 2020,” he added. “I’m not gonna let one 90-minute debate throw out three and a half years of work.”
On concerns about his age, he joked, “I know I look 40,” adding that he wasn’t too old to work through achievements in his administration.
“Were running gainst the biggest liar and biggest threat to democracy in American history,” he said.
Biden arrives at Wisconsin rally to chants of ‘let’s go Joe'
Biden has arrived at his campaign rally in Wisconsin to chants of “let’s go Joe.”
He opened with thanks to Democratic officials from the state before taking a dig at Donald Trump.
He referenced Trump’s speech from 2019 in which he claimed that George Washington’s Continental Army “took over the airports.”
“Talk about me misspeaking,” Biden said, laughing. “It’s true, he is a stable genius, this man.”
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White House responds to questions about Biden needing to work fewer hours
Reporters asked White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre about recent reports that Biden told governors that he needs more sleep and to end his days by 8pm.
Biden “took ownership of trying to do too much in the lead up to the debate” and that he “understands about striking the right balance,” she said on Friday.
“He’s human, just like we all are. It’s a 24/7 job,” she added.
Biden had a ‘verbal check-in’ about his ‘cold’
During a brief press gaggle on the way to Wisconsin, White House press secretary Karine Jean Pierre clarified answers she gave about whether Biden had checked in with a doctor after aides said he had a cold during the debate.
Jean-Pierre told reporters earlier this week that he didn’t, but then Biden told governors assembled at the White House that he did.
“He did have a short check in recent days about his cold ... It wasn’t a medical examination. It was a conversation,” Jean-Pierre clarified on Friday.
He had“a verbal check in about the cold” in the days after the debate, she said.
Full story: Trump wants to distance himself from far-right Project 2025 plan while his PAC pushes ads promoting it
Project 2025’s 900-page manifesto for nearly every detail of a second Trump presidency was drawn up by more than a dozen former Trump administration officials and advisers, who have planned to “integrate” the document into the campaign’s platform in the coming months.
But on Friday, as his Democratic rivals use Project 2025 as shorthand for his agenda, Trump claimed that he the proposal is news to him.
Trump distances himself from Project 2025 while his PAC pushes ads promoting it
The far-right blueprint for his second term was drawn up by more than a dozen people who worked for him
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