In his first interview since leaving office, former US President Joe Biden defended his last-minute decision to exit the 2024 re-election race, claiming it would not have changed the outcome even if he had stepped aside earlier.
Speaking to BBC Radio 4's Today programme on Monday in Wilmington, Delaware, Biden said, “I don’t think it would have mattered,” when asked if he should have dropped out sooner.
Biden remained firm that stepping aside was the right choice and said, “It was a hard decision… I think it was the right decision.”
The 82-year-old left the race on July 21, just 106 days before the election, after widespread backlash to his poor performance in a June debate against Donald Trump. “We left at a time when we had a good candidate. She was fully funded,” Biden said, referring to then-Vice President Kamala Harris, who ultimately lost both the electoral and popular vote to Trump.
As per the New York Post, Biden also reiterated that he had always planned to be a “transitional” figure. “I meant what I said when I started, that I’m preparing to hand this to the next generation… but things moved so quickly, and it made it difficult to walk away.”
The interview, timed with the 80th anniversary of the end of World War II in Europe, quickly shifted focus to global affairs. Without directly naming Trump, Biden sharply criticised his successor’s approach to the 38-month-old war in Ukraine. “It is modern-day appeasement,” he said, likening the Trump administration’s push for Ukraine to concede territory to Russia to British appeasement policies of the 1930s.
“Anybody that thinks Putin’s going to stop is just foolish,” he added.
Biden also attacked Trump’s rhetoric on foreign policy, particularly his musings about acquiring Greenland, retaking the Panama Canal, and even making Canada the 51st state. “What the hell’s going on here? What president ever talks like that? That’s not who we are,” he said.
“We’re about freedom, democracy, opportunity, not about confiscation”, Biden added.
On the Ukraine war, Biden pushed back on suggestions that he had not done enough. “We gave them everything they needed to provide for their independence,” he told the BBC’s Nick Robinson.
He also condemned the Trump administration's February meeting with President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, where Trump and Vice President JD Vance berated the Ukrainian leader, as “beneath America”.
Biden warned that under Trump, Nato’s future was uncertain. “I’m worried that Europe is going to lose confidence in the certainty of America and the leadership of America in the world,” he said.
Reflecting on his own presidency, Biden defended his record. “Our economy was growing… the stock market was way up… we were expanding our influence around the world,” he said. In contrast, he said of Trump’s return to the White House, “I’ll let history judge that… I don’t see anything that was triumphant.”
Speaking to BBC Radio 4's Today programme on Monday in Wilmington, Delaware, Biden said, “I don’t think it would have mattered,” when asked if he should have dropped out sooner.
Biden remained firm that stepping aside was the right choice and said, “It was a hard decision… I think it was the right decision.”
The 82-year-old left the race on July 21, just 106 days before the election, after widespread backlash to his poor performance in a June debate against Donald Trump. “We left at a time when we had a good candidate. She was fully funded,” Biden said, referring to then-Vice President Kamala Harris, who ultimately lost both the electoral and popular vote to Trump.
As per the New York Post, Biden also reiterated that he had always planned to be a “transitional” figure. “I meant what I said when I started, that I’m preparing to hand this to the next generation… but things moved so quickly, and it made it difficult to walk away.”
The interview, timed with the 80th anniversary of the end of World War II in Europe, quickly shifted focus to global affairs. Without directly naming Trump, Biden sharply criticised his successor’s approach to the 38-month-old war in Ukraine. “It is modern-day appeasement,” he said, likening the Trump administration’s push for Ukraine to concede territory to Russia to British appeasement policies of the 1930s.
“Anybody that thinks Putin’s going to stop is just foolish,” he added.
Biden also attacked Trump’s rhetoric on foreign policy, particularly his musings about acquiring Greenland, retaking the Panama Canal, and even making Canada the 51st state. “What the hell’s going on here? What president ever talks like that? That’s not who we are,” he said.
“We’re about freedom, democracy, opportunity, not about confiscation”, Biden added.
On the Ukraine war, Biden pushed back on suggestions that he had not done enough. “We gave them everything they needed to provide for their independence,” he told the BBC’s Nick Robinson.
He also condemned the Trump administration's February meeting with President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, where Trump and Vice President JD Vance berated the Ukrainian leader, as “beneath America”.
Biden warned that under Trump, Nato’s future was uncertain. “I’m worried that Europe is going to lose confidence in the certainty of America and the leadership of America in the world,” he said.
Reflecting on his own presidency, Biden defended his record. “Our economy was growing… the stock market was way up… we were expanding our influence around the world,” he said. In contrast, he said of Trump’s return to the White House, “I’ll let history judge that… I don’t see anything that was triumphant.”
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