President Biden repeatedly pushed NBC News’ Lester Holt Monday on the media supposedly ignoring former President Trump’s “lies” in favor of attacking his performance in the first presidential debate.
After discussing the assassination attempt on Trump, Holt’s questions turned to the debate and its aftermath. The reporter asked about Biden’s last TV interview where he seemed to be unsure if he had watched the debate. The president replied that while he had not seen the debate in its entirety, he had seen clips of it.
“The reason I ask is because, I guess, the question is, are you all on the same page at the White House? Are you seeing what they saw, which was, frankly, moments where you appeared to be confused?” Holt asked.
“Lester, look,” Biden began. “Why don’t you guys ever talk about the 18, 28 lies he told? Where are you on this? Why don’t the press ever talk about that? 28 times it’s confirmed he lied in that debate. I had a bad, bad night. I wasn’t feeling well at all. I had been…I screwed up.”
Biden pressed NBC’s Lester Holt on media coverage of the first presidential debate during an exclusive interview on Monday. (NBC screenshot)
BIDEN REMAINS DEFIANT AS HE SETS PRIMETIME INTERVIEW WITH NBC’S LESTER HOLT
Holt continued, “I just ask the question because the idea that you may or may not have seen what some of these other folks have seen, you’re not on the same-“
“I didn’t have to see. I was there!” Biden interjected. “By the way, seriously, you won’t answer the question, but why didn’t the press talk about all lies he told?”
“We have reported many of the issues that came up during the debate,” Holt responded.
“No, you haven’t. No, you haven’t,” Biden insisted.
“We will provide you with them,” Holt said.
“God love you,” Biden replied with a smirk.
Biden attacked the media throughout the interview. In another instance, he pushed back when Holt referenced comments GOP vice presidential candidate JD Vance made against him.
“He said some things about me, but see what he said about Trump. What’s with you guys? Come on, man,” Biden said.
Biden scoffed at the idea that NBC fact-checked former President Trump during the first presidential debate. (NBC screenshot)
Another time he pressed back on Holt when asked if he would be willing to debate Trump before the next one scheduled in September.
“If the opportunity came up to do [another debate] between now and then, is there a sense of wanting to get back on that horse?” Holt asked.
“I’m on the horse! Where have you been? I’ve done 22 major events and thousands of people, overwhelming crowds. A lot happening,” Biden responded.
At the end of the interview, Biden also remarked, “Some time I’ll come and talk to you about what we should be talking about, okay? The issues.”
“Always happy to talk,” Holt replied.
DEMOCRATS, MEDIA DEMAND BIDEN DO MORE INTERVIEWS, PRESS CONFERENCES AMID DEBATE FALLOUT
Though Biden accused NBC of ignoring Trump’s comments during the debate, NBC has done multiple fact-checks of Trump’s statements, describing him as unleashing a “torrent of misinformation on topics from terrorism to taxes” during the showdown.
President Biden and former President Trump squared off in their high-stakes 2024 election debate rematch in late June. (Justin Sullivan/Getty Images, left, )
“Trump, meanwhile, offered numerous falsehoods and misleading statements in his responses. He hammered Biden on immigration and the border, even when he was asked about other issues. And he repeatedly dodged questions about whether he would accept the results of the election,” another NBC report read.
Since Biden’s disastrous debate with Trump, several media pundits and Democratic officials have called on the president to step out of the race.