WASHINGTON — WASHINGTON (AP) — President Joe Biden sat for another key interview at another key time for his candidacy, as his re-election team carefully determines how to get his campaign back on track after the attempted assassination of former President Donald Trump.
Biden was interviewed by NBC News’ Lester Holt in a session scheduled to air on the network Monday night. The interview, scheduled before the attempted assassination of Trump at a rally in Pennsylvania, is part of Biden’s broader strategy to prove himself fit for office after fears grew among Democrats over his disastrous performance at the June 27 debate.
The Biden campaign recalibrated some of its policy plans in the immediate aftermath of Saturday’s assassination attempt, pulling advertising and pausing news coverage. The White House also canceled Biden’s planned visit to the Lyndon B. Johnson Library on Monday, where he was to deliver a speech on civil rights.
It’s not yet finalized when Biden’s campaign ads will air again. But Biden is moving ahead with the Nevada portion of his previously planned western swing, which will include speeches before the NAACP and UnidosUS, a Latino civil rights and advocacy group. He will also headline what’s billed as a “campaign community event” in Las Vegas on Wednesday.
Officials say the campaign will resume efforts to contrast Biden with Trump after the NBC interview. However, hours earlier, his campaign issued a scathing statement about Trump’s selection of Ohio Sen. J.D. Vance as his running mate, saying he picked the freshman senator because he “would bend over backwards to enable Trump and his extreme MAGA agenda.”
“Every day for the next three and a half months, we will make the case between the two starkly contrasting visions Americans will choose at the ballot box in November,” said Jen O’Malley Dillon, Biden’s campaign chair. “The Biden-Harris ticket, focused on uniting the country, creating opportunity for all, and lowering costs; or the Trump-Vance ticket — whose damaging agenda will gut Americans’ rights, hurt the middle class, and make life more expensive — while benefiting the ultra-wealthy and greedy corporations.”
Biden has acknowledged that his candidacy and agenda will come under attack Republican National Convention this week, and aides feel no need to completely shut down their campaign while Biden is under scrutiny in Milwaukee. But they will proceed cautiously in the wake of the shooting at a Trump rally in Butler, Pennsylvania.
“I will be traveling this week to advocate for our record and the vision — my vision for the country — our vision,” Biden said during his speech. Remarks from the Oval Office on Sunday night, only the third speech of his presidency. “I will continue to speak out for our democracy, to stand up for our Constitution and the rule of law, to call for action at the ballot box, not violence on our streets. That’s how democracy should work.”
Biden’s renewed campaign this week comes as Democrats are deadlocked over whether the incumbent president should remain in the race, despite his own opposition to him staying. Biden has made it clear in no uncertain terms that he will remain in the race, and his aides have conducted themselves accordingly.
It was unclear whether the attempt on Trump’s life would blunt Democratic efforts to urge Biden to step aside, but it appears the momentum has stalled for now. No Democrats have called for him to be removed from the race since the shooting Saturday night.
In the hours before the shooting, Biden continued to face frustration and skepticism from Democratic lawmakers. Rep. Jared Huffman of California said he had asked the president during his meeting with the Congressional Progressive Caucus to objectively assess the direction of the race, and if the Lord Almighty did not intervene, Biden would consider “the best earthly alternative”: meeting with former Presidents Obama and Clinton, and Democratic leaders including Hakeem Jeffries and Chuck Schumer, and Speaker Emerita Nancy Pelosi “to ask their advice.”
Huffman said in a social media post that Biden “doesn’t agree with the idea that we’re on a losing streak.”
And while Biden expressed a “willingness to listen” to other voices, Huffman said he doubted they would be persuasive. “I continue to believe that a major change of direction is needed, and that the president and his team have not yet fully acknowledged the problem, let alone corrected it,” he said.
But now several Democrats who spoke on condition of anonymity were skeptical that there would be enough motivation among lawmakers to successfully pressure Biden not to run, especially since they are spread out and out of Washington until next week and since Biden has said he will not step aside and has seized the opportunity to respond quickly to the weekend shooting. The people asked not to be identified to characterize private conversations.
Still, there were deep concerns that Biden was not up to the task and a sense that the pressure to try to find another candidate could mount again when lawmakers return to Washington. Congressional Democrats watched the Republican National Convention and Biden’s appearances this week with the awareness that the dynamics could change again.
___
AP congressional correspondent Lisa Mascaro contributed to this report.