JOE Biden mumbled and coughed his way through his first major broadcast interview since leaving the White House.
The 82-year-old sat down with the BBC‘s Nick Robinson, in which the presenter grilled Biden on his record as US president.
Biden, whose term as president was sandwiched between Donald Trump’s two stints in office, did not name Trump even once.
However, he broke from the long-standing tradition of former presidents refraining from criticizing their successors, as he openly denounced the new administration’s policies.
The former president, who was hounded by concerns about his health over the past four years, often mumbled and coughed through the interview.
He had been expected to run for re-election against Trump last November, but pulled out of the race after a disastrous debate performance in June.
During the debate, Biden’s hoarse voice and frequent lapses in memory fueled ongoing speculation about his declining health.
Additionally, Biden made some notable slips, such as referring to Ukraine’s Volodymyr Zelensky as “President Putin” and mistakenly calling Kamala Harris “Vice President Trump” during a NATO summit.
Harris subsequently ran for president in his stead, but she went on to lose the election to Trump.
When asked by Robinson if he should have pulled out of the race earlier, Biden said: “I don’t think it would have mattered. We left at a time when we had a good candidate.”
However, he added that it was the “right decision” to stand aside.
Joe Biden’s health
Joe Biden was 78 years old when he assumed the presidency in 2021 – the oldest person to become president at the time.
Throughout his four years in office, he was chased by repeated concerns about his declining health.
Despite speculation that he would not seek re-election due to his age, he nonetheless stood again in 2024.
Biden’s team had attempted to allay the concerns, insisting that he was fit enough for the job.
But his disastrous debate performance against Trump in June 2024 forced his health to the forefront of the news agenda.
He would later drop out of the race following mounting pressure, leaving Kamala Harris to face off against Trump.
But Biden had some choice words about Donald Trump‘s threats to annex Canada and Greenland.
“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.”
He also described Trump’s spat with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky in the Oval Office as “beneath America”.
Biden, who was president when Russia invaded Ukraine in 2022, oversaw billions of dollars in military aid sent to Kyiv.
Donald Trump has taken a drastically different approach to Ukraine, which Western allies fear undermines Kyiv’s ability to fight off the Russian invaders.
Biden accused the Trump administration’s idea of Ukraine giving up territory as part of a peace deal as “modern-day appeasement”.
He added: “What this man [Putin] wants to do is reestablish the Warsaw Pact.
“He can’t stand the fact that the Russian dictatorship that he runs, that the Soviet Union has collapsed. And anybody who thinks he’s going to stop is just foolish.”
The former president also took a swipe at Vice President JD Vance and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth’s disdainful remarks about America’s European allies.
In a leaked group chat, Hegseth said he shared Vance’s “loathing” of “European free-loading” – calling it “pathetic”.
“Imagine there being no NATO,” Biden said.
“I don’t understand how they fail to understand that there’s strength in alliances. There’s benefits, the costs. It saves us money overall.”
Donald Trump’s chaotic first 100 days back in office has seen growing fears of a recession following the president’s announcement of bruising tariffs.
He has also signed a flurry of executive orders, pushed for extensive cuts to the federal government, and prioritised mass deportations.
When asked about Trump’s record since returning to office, Biden contrasted it with his own tenure.
Reflecting on the state of the US when he left the White House, he said: “Our economy was growing.
“We were moving in a direction where the stock market was way up.
“We were in a situation where we were expanding our influence around the world in a positive way, increasing trade.”
