Joe Biden Says Donald Trump Distracted Him During Debate

President Joe Biden said that he was "distracted" by former President Donald Trump's "shouting" during last week's presidential debate.

In a sit down interview with ABC News' George Stephanopoulos that aired Friday, Biden was asked about his rocky first debate performance, during which the president said he was dealing with "a really bad cold" and was exhausted after coming off a few weeks of international travel.

Biden also said that he didn't "think" he watched footage of the debate, but acknowledged to Stephanopoulos that he had "a bad night." When asked when it "came" to him that he was struggling during the event, Biden said, "When I realized that even when I was answering the question, when they turned his [Trump's] mic off, he was still shouting, and I let it distract me."

"I'm not blaming it on that, but I realized that I just wasn't in control," the president added.

Trump made over two dozen false statements during the debate last Thursday, according to CNN's fact check team, and repeatedly attacked Biden while dodging questions that were asked by the moderators. As Politico reported last week, many of Trump's attacks were unfounded or misleading, including claiming that Biden "gets money from China" and that Democrats support late-term abortions even "after birth."

ABC News said that they offered to have a sit-down interview with Trump after Thursday's debate as well but the former president declined. The network will host the second presidential debate on September 10 at 9 p.m. ET.

Newsweek reached out to Trump's campaign late Friday evening for comment on Biden's interview.

Stephanopoulos also repeatedly pressed the president on Friday about his confidence heading into November, given that the past week has been filled with speculation over whether Biden should remain the party's nominee. Biden remained steadfast in his reelection bid, however, saying that he is "the most qualified person to beat" Trump.

When pressed on his slipping approval rating—which as of Friday sat at 36.9 percent, according to the polling site FiveThirtyEight—Biden said that it is not "tougher" to win a second term in office "when you're running against a pathological liar."

"Not when he hasn't been challenged in a way that he's about to be challenged," Biden continued.

"You've had months to challenge him," Stephanopoulos interjected.

"Oh sure, but I was also doing a hell of a lot of other things," Biden said.

Several Democrats, including four members of the House of Representatives, have called on Biden to step aside as the party's nominee over the past week. Biden cast doubts on reports that there are talks among Democrats to replace him, saying on Friday that he believes the "vast majority" support his reelection bid.

While polling has shown Biden and Trump to be in a head-to-head match for much of the 2024 election cycle, the former president has held a slight lead above Biden in several polls since last week's debate. According to FiveThirtyEight's polling average, Trump is on average 2.5 percentage points ahead of Biden in polls nationwide as of Friday.

In a poll from The New York Times and Siena College published earlier this week, Democratic voters indicated that they were split on whether Biden should remain the party's nominee. Out of the 1,532 likely voters who were surveyed between June 28 and July 2, 49 percent of Democrats said that Biden should be replaced before November. Forty-five percent, however, said that the president should remain in the race.