Biden insists Kamala Harris could have beaten Trump and is left stunned by reporter asking if he’d ‘pardon himself’

President Joe Biden finally took questions in an extended format from reporters on Friday evening, revealing that he thinks both he and Kamala Harris could have defeated Trump.

The surprise back-and-forth came after Biden came out to announce another month of job growth and low inflation. He ended up addressing the election, Ukraine, pardons and Trump – although he completely misunderstood one question and gave an answer about something else.

Biden, 82, rethought his fateful decision to withdraw from re-election after discussing it in a USA Today interview.

“I think I would have beaten Trump – could have beaten Trump,” he said days before Trump returned to power. “And I think Kamala could have beaten Trump, would have beaten Trump. “It wasn’t about… I thought it was important to unite the party,” he said.

He did not indicate why, if Harris could have defeated Trump, she did not. But he did admit that he feared a divided party would lose if he stayed.

The party fractured after his disastrous July debate over whether he could prevail while facing record low approval ratings.

“I thought I could win again, thought it was better to unite the party, and it was the greatest honor of my life to be president of the United States, but I didn’t want to be someone who caused a party that wasn’t was united. to lose an election,” he said. ‘That’s why I stepped aside. But I was confident she could win.”

As it turned out, Trump defeated Harris in all seven swing states and won the popular vote, as he reminded a New York judge on Friday on a day he was convicted of 34 felonies in his hush-money case.

Asked whether Harris should run again, Biden responded with less than a push to get into the race: “I think it’s a decision she has to make. I think in four years she will be able to run again. That would be a decision for her,” Biden said, during a week of awkward encounters at Jimmy Carter’s memorial service.

Biden seemed perplexed when a reporter asked whether he would consider pardoning himself. There are debates among scientists about whether self-forgiveness is even possible.

But Biden has considered pardons for other officials who may be targeted by Donald Trump. Trump continues to call special counsel Jack Smith “deranged” and has said former lawmaker Liz Cheney, who was vice chair of the Jan. 6 committee, belongs in jail.

‘For myself? What would I forgive myself for?’ Biden said in bewilderment. ‘No, I don’t feel like forgiving myself for anything. “I didn’t do anything wrong,” he said.

That recognition — that pardons are for people who have done wrong — could complicate the issue of “preemptive pardons” to ward off Trump. Biden pardoned his son Hunter for any gun or tax crimes and issued a statement calling out political attacks designed to hurt him and his battle with addiction.

In an awkward moment, a reporter asked Biden about the latest developments in the “Havana syndrome” and whether a foreign actor was responsible for mysterious ailments of American diplomats.

Instead, he spoke about possible foreign ties to the ISIS-influenced American attacker who killed 14 people in New Orleans and was shot by police.

Then the reporter apologized and directed him to the correct topic. Biden said he would not comment.

He also lambasted Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg, who appears to be moving in the direction of MAGA and announced a new move away from fact-checking and moderation and toward a “community notes” system to deal with misinformation on the platform to go.

“I think Kamala could have beaten Trump, would have beaten Trump,” Trump said

The “whole idea of ​​walking away from fact-checking and not reporting anything that has to do with discrimination,” Biden vented.

“It’s just completely contrary to everything America stands for.”

Then he went after Trump ally Elon Musk and the “idea that, you know, a billionaire can buy something and, by the way, say, we’re not going to fact-check anything from this point on.” That turned out to be a reference to X, the former Twitter platform.

Biden did not rule out other pardons or commutations, saying it depended on what Trump says in the coming days — even though Trump has given him plenty to consider over the past year.

“It depends on the language and expectations that Trump has broadcast here over the last few days about what he’s going to do,” Biden said. “The idea that he would punish people for not adhering to what he believes should be policies related to his well-being is outrageous, but some people are still considering nothing other than no decision,” he said.

Despite avoiding questions from the press for weeks, including during foreign trips, Biden is not yet ready to step out of the spotlight completely.

He was asked whether he would remain involved or follow more of the George W. Bush model of “out of sight, out of mind.”

Biden chuckled. “I will not be out of sight or out of mind,” he said.

Before the back-and-forth with the press, Biden touted his economic legacy as Trump prepares to try to undo it with his call for permanent extensions of major tax cuts.

“We did this by fundamentally changing this country’s economic policies after decades of trickle-down economics that primarily benefited those at the top. Kamala and I and our government have written a new playbook that grows the economy from the middle and bottom up, to the benefit of all. The new playbook is working, but in 10 days our government will end and the new government will begin,” he said.