US president Joe Biden on Friday affirmed that he did not believe that his decision to run for re-election and later dropping out helped Donald Trump win in the latest US elections.
In an interaction with the media from the Roosevelt Room at the White House, Biden quipped, “I think I would have beaten Trump,” and followed up with, “And I think that Kamala could have would have beaten Trump.” This was at the heels of Biden commenting on the latest US jobs report and the state of the American economy.
The 82-year-old US president had stepped aside from the race for the White House, prompting Vice President Kamala Harris to run against Donald Trump. Biden said he felt it was important to unify the Democratic party instead of staying in the race. “Even though I thought I could win again, I thought it was better to unify the party.”
During the campaign, Biden faced flak at what was termed as a “disastrous debate” against the 78-year-old Trump, following which he bowed out. Harris was then elevated to run against the industrialist and former president, in a hastily prepped campaign that otherwise takes years to build.
Biden reiterated that he did not want to be the cause of the party being divided and then losing an election on that account. “That’s why I stepped aside. But I was confident she could win,” said Biden.
Biden also said he was musing on pre-emptive pardons for those who are targeted by Trump. The latter, during his winning bid, repeatedly called for the persecution of those he deemed as his “enemies”.
The outgoing president is scheduled to deliver the farewell address to the US on Thursday morning (Wednesday at 8 pm ET in the US) from the White House, five days before president-elect Trump is sworn into office.
Biden would also deliver an address on foreign policy at the State Department on Monday before his final speech in office.
