And the unexpected compliment he received from Donald Trump.
With less than two weeks remaining in his term, President Biden sat down for a rare and candid interview with USA TODAY.
In this wide-ranging conversation, the president reflected on pivotal topics, including what might have happened if he had chosen to remain in the 2024 election, the possibility of serving a second term, and his most significant concern regarding Donald Trump’s return to office.
Here are the standout moments from the interview that you won’t want to miss.
Biden still thinks he could have beaten Trump
As part of a series of rapid-fire questions, the president insisted he could have won the election.
“Do you believe you could have won in November?” USA TODAY‘s Washington bureau chief Susan Page asked. “It’s presumptuous to say that, but I think yes, based on the polling…,” he said before trailing off. It’s unclear what polling Biden was referring to — Trump led Biden in national and battleground state polls throughout the campaign.
Still, Biden dropped out of the 2024 race last July and endorsed Vice President Kamala Harris following pressure from top Democrats who panicked over his disastrous debate performance.
He acknowledges he might be too old to serve another term
Biden acknowledged concerns about his age, admitting he wasn’t sure whether he had the stamina to return to the White House.
When asked if he would’ve had the vigor to serve another four years, the president said he didn’t know and that’s why he talked it over with former president Barack Obama. “I had no intention of running after [my son] Beau died — for real, not a joke,” Biden told Page. “And then when Trump was running again for re-election, I really thought I had the best chance of beating him.”
“But I also wasn’t looking to be president when I was 85 years old, 86 years old,” he added. “And so I did talk about passing the baton. But I don’t know. Who the hell knows? So far, so good. But who knows what I’m going to be when I’m 86 years old?”
His comments starkly contrast his repeated claims before dropping out of the presidential race that he was in great shape despite being the oldest sitting president in U.S. history.
Biden urged Trump not to seek revenge against enemies.
When the two met at the Oval Office on Nov. 13, the president told Trump not to target political adversaries.
“I was very straightforward with Trump when he got elected,” Biden said. “I tried to make it clear that there was no need, and it was counterintuitive for his interest to go back and try to settle scores.”
However, he revealed that he didn’t get an answer from Trump on the matter, saying the president-elect didn’t respond but rather “just basically listened.”
Trump has repeatedly (and very publicly) threatened retribution against his rivals. In December, he supported a call for the FBI to investigate former GOP Rep. Liz Cheney over her role in leading Congress’s probe of the Capitol attack on Jan. 6, 2021.
Still, Biden remains undecided about whether to issue pre-emptive pardons to protect some of Trump’s potential targets. “A little bit of it depends on who [Trump] puts in what positions,” he said.
He hopes pardoning his son doesn’t become the norm
Biden defended his controversial decision to pardon his son Hunter, who had been convicted of tax evasion and charges of illegal purchase of a firearm. This move will now shield the 54-year-old from any potential future charges by the Justice Department once Trump takes office.
But he also added that he hopes the move doesn’t set a precedent for future presidents. Though he vowed not to pardon his son for months, Biden explained in the interview that two factors changed his mind. The first was that Hunter did eventually pay his back taxes, and second, “no one’s ever been tried” on the law Hunter broke (lying about his drug use on a document that he had filled out when buying a handgun in 2018).
The president maintained that his son has changed since that difficult time. “He was fighting a drug problem,” Biden said of him. “And he beat it. He’s been square and sober for almost six years now.”
Biden says Trump complimented his economic record
During the transition meeting after the 2024 election, Biden said Trump praised parts of his economic record. “He was very complimentary about some of the economic things I had done,” Biden said. “And he talked about — he thought I was leaving with a good record.”
Biden didn’t specify exactly what policies Trump praised. Still, the alleged comments are nevertheless surprising, given the president-elect’s strong public criticism of the Democrat’s presidential record. Trump has not only called the current state of the economy a “disaster” and “total mess” but also labeled Biden as “the worst president in American history.”
Still, in his sit-down, Biden pointed to measurements indicating that unemployment had fallen and the economy grew under his term.
Biden’s greatest fear about Trump is his impact on the economy
Biden has long said that Trump poses a threat to Democracy, but that apparently isn’t what concerns him most about the Republican firebrand’s second term.
The president revealed that his “single greatest fear” about Trump’s return is that he’ll eliminate parts of the Inflation Reduction Act, which he signed into law in 2022. The legislation was not only the single most significant investment in clean energy and climate, but it also authorized Medicare to negotiate directly with drug companies to lower the costs of prescription drugs for the first time.
Despite these concerns, Biden predicted that Trump could face roadblocks due to investments in Republicans’ congressional districts and states. “I think he’s going to have a problem,” Biden said with a laugh. “I won’t mention the names because I can’t prove it, I’m told — but you probably know — there’s already several very conservative members of his delegation in the United States Senate and House who said, ‘Don’t block the plan in my state. Don’t block A, B, C, or D plan. They’re going to invest $3 billion to build a factory here.'”
