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Erin Burnett Outfront
President Biden Holds High-Stakes News Conference. Aired 7-8p ET
Aired July 11, 2024 - 19:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
[19:00:37]
ANNOUNCER: This is breaking news.
ERIN BURNETT, CNN HOST: Good evening. I'm Erin Burnett.
And OUTFRONT tonight, we begin with the breaking news. We are moments away, seconds away from President Biden's high stakes news conference, a solo news conference. And what is the reality of the situation we are in a highly consequential moment that could be a turning point for his campaign.
Members of Congress, donors, voters, strategists, world leaders, all of them are watching this moment, as the president of the United States tries to extinguish growing calls for him to step aside from his reelection campaign.
Kayla Tausche is live from the news conference, which as I said, is just a moment here or two away from beginning.
So, Kayla, you are in that room watching these final preparations for the president of the United States to come out for this press conference. What are you learning right now?
KAYLA TAUSCHE, CNN SENIOR WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Erin, the room is just starting to fill up as we await the president of the United States. Against this backdrop, we expect him to hail some of the achievements of this particular summit, marking the 75th anniversary of the alliance.
But the president is going to have to engage in a high wire act to try to shore up confidence among members of his own party that he is the candidate that they should unify behind for reelection, and to beat Donald Trump. Earlier today, his top advisers held their daily call that they hold at 9:00 a.m. where they discuss the president's prospects in the race.
I'm told as of this morning, there had been no change of heart, according to a senior administration official. They now do that call twice a day since the debate, adding a 9:00 p.m. call as well, to just sift through what's happened during the day and figure out what it means for the next. As of today, we do not expect the president to make any announcement about dropping out. That was at least the word from a senior administration official earlier today. The president has been toggling between the various official events
here at this summit. But his aides who briefed him on Capitol Hill, some of them joined him here and you have to imagine that in those conversations, he got a little bit of a taste of what some Senate Democrats were saying, giving them an earful earlier today, many of those members telling CNN that it didn't matter what the president said on this stage tonight, because what they saw on the debate stage had caused them to make up their mind.
Of course, many of those aides, many in the president's inner circle, the very members of his administration and campaign that have son so much frustration among top Democrats who tell CNN they believed that they were shielded from signs of the president's aging over the last year. Otherwise, they would have been in a position to reconsider or make a different decision on their candidate for 2024 sooner.
Now, they're in a position where they're having to make this decision in crunch time with just days before the Democratic National Convention. Of course, all eyes are on the president here tonight. We don't know the exact parameters of what we will hear from him. How many questions he plans to take, how long we expect this press conference to go to. Certainly, we will wait and see and deliver that news to you live, Erin.
BURNETT: All right. Well, Kayla, stay with me as we await here.
Kayla talks about that room, filling up the president going to come out. There's going to be reporters from around the world in that room because this is on the heels of the NATO summit. So, obviously, as you can see, a woman there as they're getting ready, that will be the podium with the president, will approach in just a few moments.
So, Kayla staying with me. I want to just briefly go to Capitol Hill, though because Kayla mentioned all those members of Congress who've been talking to CNN, many of whom are saying their minds are made up regardless of what they see tonight or at any other point from the president and Manu Raju is there on Capitol Hill.
Manu, you've been speaking to many of these members, getting some new members speaking out to you. What are they saying?
MANU RAJU, CNN CHIEF CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Yeah, look, there are a lot of private concerns about the president that have not come public yet. And we do expect in the aftermath of this press conference, more members to come out and call for Joe Biden to step aside.
How many? Unclear. How quickly also unclear? Could it be a slow drip as we have seen so far? It certainly could be, but allowed but members who have been speaking to have said that they're going to wait until after this press conference that has to go forward with their concerns.
They are all -- even though there are 14 members of Congress so far who have been public, you know, have said that they -- Joe Biden to step aside at his 14 Democrats in the House and the Senate, one Senate Democrat, there's a fraction of the overall number of House Democrats and Senate Democrats.
There are many more who harbor deep concerns about the state of the Biden campaign.
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Some of them hope he makes a decision that ultimately step aside if he does not do that or does anything in the way of a shaky performance tonight expect more of them to make voice public and trying to pressure the president to make that decision.
But there's also some concern by doing that. It got essentially force the president to dig in. Already the president has plans to campaign next week, and that is the message that they sent behind closed doors to Senate Democrats today when top campaign officials brief Senate Democrats, they said to the president was going to hit the battleground states. He's going to do a major television interview on Monday and made no indication I'm told that he plans to step aside here.
So this tension is only going to build after tonight. Erin, especially if he stumbles in this high-profile moment that could define his presidency and the rest of this campaign Erin.
RAJU: All right. Manu, thank you very much.
Manu with me, Kayla with me as we are standing by waiting for the president to approach that podium.
We also have our panel with me.
And I want to start with you, Kate Bedingfield, because, you know, the president and you've worked with him and you've spent a lot of time with him? And I'm wondering what you think is going through his mind right now, given the high stakes of this moment. And he knows it, and the pressures -- pressure and stress that he is under as he walks out to that podium, knowing that every single word he says or any single word he says could be used to end his campaign?
KATE BEDINGFIELD, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: Well, certainly, I think he has every understanding that this is a significant high-stakes moment.
I imagine as he's preparing, he's working through, what are the key things that he wants to show people that he wants, people who are watching this press conference to come away with.
And, you know, I think the things he needs to do are -- you know, he needs to convey that he shares the belief that this race and the potential threat of a second Donald Trump presidency is an existential threat, that he has the energy and the vigor and the fire to fight that fight, I think that's more than anything. I think what anxious Democrats are going to be looking for tonight as they're watching this, you know, they're certainly going to be -- the press is going to be listening to every word and parsing every word. You know, some viewers will do that, too. But I think most viewers will probably just be watching to see if he can bring that level of energy that's necessary to wage the kind of intense campaign that's going to have to happen over the next four months.
So I -- you know, he should be focused on and making sure that he's conveying that. He certainly knows this is a high-stakes moment. I have no doubt that he's preparing for it and well see.
But there are a lot of eyes on this press conference tonight, and I think, you know, there is a lot of concern -- we've heard a lot of reporting about concern on the Hill, and I think they'll see tonight -- I hope what they'll see is a really vigorous Joe Biden but that's the task ahead of him tonight.
BURNETT: Van, you know, Kate references those on Capitol Hill watching. Kayla mentioned the number 14 Democrats thus far in Congress have called on Biden to get out. That includes one senator. "Politico" now says at least six more House Republicans are watching tonight and that this press conference that were about to see, they have said would be the determinant for them of whether they jumped on board that train to push him out.
I know, Van, where you stand, that you've said that he needs to step aside. Is there anything that he could do tonight? Or performance that you would see that would at this point change your mind?
VAN JONES, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: Sure, I mean, look, first of all, its not just elected officials that are watching. He's got to walk out there, frankly, on a carpet of prayers. There's a lot of grassroots people who see this very differently than the political professionals like myself.
There are a lot of African Americans in particular who feel that Donald Trump is getting a free pass. He can say anything, and it's expected that he's going to say crazy stuff, that Joe Biden is being held to a different standard and it's not fair.
And so, there's a lot of prayer out there for Biden that you don't see. There's a lot of people who feel, you know, in the Black community were used to seeing leaders stumble and be attacked. And so there's a grassroots fundraising is going up for him, phone calls into a Black radio stations are going up for him.
And so, he's walking out there with some support that may people may be surprised exist for him and if he can find himself, if he can find that center, if he can speak from who he really is, I think that might allay some fears. I think the challenge is that we are now in a dynamic where any mistake he makes is a headline and Donald Trump continues to say crazy stuff and nobody even notices. And that's a tough situation for him to be in tonight.
BURNETT: Yeah. Well, it's a fair point because after this moment, if he gets past it, then there's the next one. I mean, no doubt that's how he feels.
Astead, you know, when Van talks about the carpet of prayer -- I believe that's the phrase you used, Van -- that accompanies Biden tonight with some of his supporters and grassroots supporters, you have spent a lot of time talking to those supporters, to voters.
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What are they telling you?
ASTEAD HERNDON, CNN POLITICAL ANALYST: Yeah, I think that tonight is going to be a test of whether Biden can do what he hasn't done over the last year-and-a-half, which does speak to the fundamental concern most Americans have about his presidency.
It did not take the debate for a lot of Americans to think Biden was too old for a second term. And frankly, the campaign and the candidate have not spoken to those concerns, have ignored the evidence of those concerns consistently over the last year-and-a-half.
And so, I think that this moment is one where he is speaking not only to elected officials, we're having a crisis of confidence about his candidacy, but also to a lot of Democrats who are doing that as well. And that does not mean it's universal because the numbers and I think the reporting would tell us to Van's point that it's not a clear kind of universal belief among Democrats that he should be replaced.
But there is a universal belief that, that debate in though candidate who was in that debate is not suitable for what is going forward and the campaign set that up as a test for his fitness.
And so, we should not think of this conference as step one, on that front. He has already flunked the first test and the terms of the debate, and I would also say we saw an interview with ABC that did not massage all those concerns anyway.
So he is running out of rope here and I think that's why you feel the increased pressure coming from the Hill is because people want to see a different candidate and they want to see it fast.
BURNETT: Scott, you know, a new poll came out this morning showing the race largely unchanged in that, that we'll see -- a poll is a poll, it's a data point. But from that data point, the debate did not impact the numbers as much as certainly the conversations that, you know, we've all been having, what indicate and certainly not as much as Republicans hoped.
So does that surprise you, Scott?
SCOTT JENNINGS, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL COMMENATOR: One poll? No. I mean, if you want to know what the polls say, listen to the Democrats who are desperate for Joe Biden to drop out of the race. I mean, regardless of what public data you see, when elected officials with access so they are private polling, when high ranking Democrats are out begging for Joe Biden to do the right thing and step aside, you know what the polls say.
The fact it's a tied race nationally means Donald Trump is going to win the Electoral College.
I don't think this press conference, by the way, is going to change anything, whether he does well, whether he does poorly, or whether he does somewhere in the middle. First of all, he's already committed the gaffe of the day and he was trying to introduce President Zelenskyy of Ukraine, he called him President Putin.
In terms of what the average American sees over the next 24 hours, they're going to see that clip of him messing up on the world stage over and over and over. And this press conference is not going to change it.
But one press conference doesn't change what we know. This is a man in decline. It's not going to get better tomorrow. It's not going to get better in two weeks.
And I'm with Van. I do think he's coming out on a carpet of prayer, and one of them. I'm praying for him and his family to think hard about whether he's the right person to lead this country right now. And certainly whether he can look into a camera with a straight face and tell the American people, I'm capable of leading it for the next four years.
BURNETT: All right. Of course, he has done that repeatedly since the debate, but, you know, we'll see what he does tonight.
All of you please stay with me because we are now just a minute or two away. I believe from this beginning.
MJ Lee is outside the White House right now.
And, MJ, as the president prepares to have this press conference prince live in primetime in front of the country in the world, you're reporting that some top Democrats are furious with Biden's inner circle. How come?
MJ LEE, CNN SENIOR WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Yeah, there is a lot of anger that is being directed at the president's inner circle of advisers and also his family members from so many Democrats across the party who believe that these people have created this operation and a system that is in place to have the president be highly choreographed, really stage-managed at every point of the day, and they believe that that is exactly why that's so many Democrats, even the people who interact with him on a regular basis, not to mention members of the public did not have a full picture of how much the president had declined, which so many Democrats felt like they saw on full display for the first time on debate night.
Whether it is these cabinet meetings that are were described to us as being so meticulously scripted ahead of time, whether it is these advisers being incredibly sensitive to and controlling of the way that the president appears in front of cameras, one top Democrat that I was talking to who is in close touch with the president's inner circle, put it this way. They said there's this general sense of just unbelievable holding your breath every time he does that event. Every time he's with people.
And they said these advisers had privately acknowledged that this situation is only going to get worse. And I was thinking, Erin, waiting for this press conference, watching the president deliver remarks at this NATO summit when he had that moment of mixing up the President Zelenskyy and President Putin -- I mean, you could very easily imagine so many Democrats that are tuning in to see how he'll do -- yeah, holding their breaths and wondering, is he going to bumble something? Is he going to make a mistake?
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And, Erin, I think that is just one of the biggest reasons why, even if the president were to stay in the race and our reporting is that he has not changed his mind on that. Why the road ahead is going to be so difficult for him because there are so many Democrats in his party, people that are close to him that basically believe at this point that it is politically untenable for him to move forward with this kind of scrutiny, and this kind of microscope on him when he already has his work cut out for him trying to do if beat Donald Trump.
BURNETT: Right. Right. And as you point out, you know, when you mistake a name, you mistake a name, in his case now it's different, right? Donald Trump confused Nikki Haley and Nancy Pelosi, Erdogan and Orban, but we don't keep hearing about that.
Right now when it's Biden, it takes on such importance, which just shows the stakes here.
I want to go straight to our chief national security analyst, Jim Sciutto, who is there tonight. And of course, has been there at NATO throughout.
And, Jim, you have been talking and this is a crucial thing too, when you talk about all of this coverage about the United States president, what does this do to American standing in the world and the way other world leaders perceive him. And this country, you've been talking to some of those leaders and NATO officials today.
And what are they telling you? What are they looking for here?
JIM SCIUTTO, CNN CHIEF NATIONAL SECURITY ANALYST: Yeah. I would say, Erin, the dynamic is not dissimilar for what you hear from Democratic Party leaders, right? That what you hear publicly from many NATO officials, Ive spoken to several of them is an expression of confidence in President Biden's leadership today and going forward.
Privately, they say something quite different, which is they are watching him very closely. They see the challenges that he's facing domestically, and they have their own questions frankly about his decline over time.
They don't want to say that publicly. It's quite understandable. They are in the midst of the largest war in Europe, of course, since World War II, they want to show unity and in many ways they have shown unity here.
But those questions about his leadership and also this is crucial, Erin, the effect of this election on the alliance going forward because they know that on the ballot are two American leaders Trump and Biden with two very different views of Americas role in the world at Americas role in NATO.
And they see a potential American, if not withdrawal from NATO, at least retreat from its positions in the past. It's a very real question going forward and very real fears for many you speak with here.
BURNETT: Yeah, unmoored and unsettling feeling. I am sure for them as it is for so many who are watching this all unfold.
All right. Jim is staying with us. Of course, we've got Kayla, MJ, at the White House in the room, as well, as we await the president.
I just want to just bring in briefly longtime Democratic strategist, James Carville as we await the president.
Obviously, James, you've been vocal. You've said that Biden cant beat Trump in your view. You also believe he will ultimately be replaced with another Democratic nominee.
So when you look at this stage tonight and you look at the president, the United States about to come out and just said originally been planned for around 6:30. Now, we expect him any moment, so he is running a bit late.
What are you looking for?
JAMES CARVILLE, DEMOCRATIC STRATEGIST: (INAUDIBLE)
BURNETT: Yeah. All right. You know what, James? We're going to work on your audio. I thought it was me, but we are having a little bit of a challenge with it. So, we're going to fix it. I'll come right back to you.
In the meantime, Van, let me just go back to you on the back of the MJ Lee's reporting when she saying you that that deep frustration and anger at Biden's inner circle. I'm just curious about your view on this because these, many of these people who seem to be angry, are people who themselves have spent time with Biden. And there are people who have told others that when they have conversations with him about foreign policy or some sort of a policy issue, that he's sharp and on and to the point and follows up and asks questions and does all of that, and they themselves were shot.
And now, they're angry that the inner circle was sort of keeping some thing from them. And I'm just wondering if all that adds up to you.
JONES: Look, I think that people may have had some sense of disquiet having met with him. I've not met with them in the past several months.
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So -- but there may have been people that have some disquiet, some concern, but it may have been easily brushed aside.
And listen, Anderson Cooper did a beautiful interview with him a few months ago about grief. It was -- it was beautiful. So, you know, it's not like every day he was like the guy we saw.
So I think what happened is there was a sense of disquiet. He's obviously was losing a step or two. You saw a little bit of the mumbling and the stumbling, but there was a floor there that I think people were used to and were expecting.
And that floor just fell away at the debate. And I think that there's -- I think what the suspicion is because it there may have been other times when the floor had fallen away and that that was not being reported out and that was why there was so much control. But I don't think -- I think that people are wrong, that they think, there are Democ -- a lot of Democratic officials are members of the press who had access to a Biden who looked like that, and a Biden who acted like that and just kept their mouth shut.
That is not true. People were uniformly -- I know these people personally, uniformly stunned by what they saw and they are angry that this may have been a recurring feature that was not revealed.
BURNETT: You know, Kate, I interviewed the president a few weeks ago -- a month ago, and it was in the middle of the afternoon. It was at a factory in Wisconsin. He traveled there.
We talked for just under 20 minutes. He gave details. He had a strong message for Prime Minister Netanyahu about his red line in Rafah. He knew what he wanted to say. He was in control of it.
That being said, he was old, he seems physically frail as we have all seen, but nothing like we saw at that debate.
I mean, have you heard, Kate, from anybody in the inner circle that you are so close to after the debate, did it suddenly come out that they had seen moments like we all witnessed on that debate stage?
BEDINGFIELD: No, absolutely not. I didn't hear that from anybody around the president. I didn't hear that from anybody in the inner circle.
I think Van's point is exactly right that most people who interact with him come away feeling like he is in charge. He's confident. He's making decisions. It's not -- there's not a universe of people who are somehow hiding the fact that Joe Biden regularly looks like he looked on that debate stage on the night of the 27th.
So, you know, I think the other thing to remember too about this suggestion that somehow his inner circle is, you know, hiding him. I mean, these are people who care tremendously about him. They advocated to put him on the debate stage. They believed it was going to be a good political moment for him that he was sharp next to Donald Trump.
They would not have done that had they thought that this was going to happen. So I think this was a really difficult night. It's -- it doesn't reflect what I've heard from others who are close to him. I -- you know, I haven't been there since March of '23. That's when I left.
But every person I talked to you to a person and has said they haven't seen the person that we saw on the debate stage. So I think, you know, I certainly take them at their word. It was one bad night and now his task is to go out and do what he's doing, which is to show that it was in fact one bad night.
BURNETT: Yeah. And I want to let everyone watching know as we await the president, his national security team is now in the room, along with his press secretary, Karine Jean-Pierre, but John Kirby is there.
Jake Sullivan is there. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin is there, Secretary of State Anthony Blinken is there. They are all in that room right now.
Astead, the voters that you're speaking to, is there anything that he can do that puts this to rest, in other words, that makes them go back to the way they were before the debate? Where they knew he was what I witnessed, he could be frail, he is old, but that he was in command of what he wanted to do? Or is this going to be every single time he comes out now, it's Groundhog Day?
HERNDON: I do think that the nature of the debate was such that every single time he comes out, there will be a standard of folks are looking at to make sure it does not slip into the so-called one bad night. But I also think even if we think before the debate, voters were already at the point where they thought that there were questions about Joe Biden's physical and kind of mental capabilities for the next four years.
So going back to the pre-debate levels of voter confidence is not enough for the Biden campaign. They have to turn that around if they want the chance to win this race. And that was their tasks before the debate even started.
I would suggest that the question of cover up is not the real right one to ask their reporting doesn't bear that out as folks have said, but there was always enough evidence to look ahead to the next four years and say that a lot of members of the American public were uncomfortable with the idea of an 86-year-old second term president. That has been true consistently, and that was not the question that the Democrats were willing to engage in.
And so, that's what I think is at the core of people's upset in this year is why was that not happening?
BURNETT: So, Scott, in the inner circles on the Republican side that you talked to -- of the -- you know, the power players in the Republican Party? What do they expect to happen here?
JENNINGS: Well, nobody knows. I mean, I started this week thinking Biden was going to survive and then I saw Nancy Pelosi on TV yesterday, reopen the door and it seems like more people are coming out today.
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So, nobody really knows what's going to happen. There's a huge amount of uncertainty, not just about Joe Biden, the candidate, but about Joe Biden, the president. So, there's a lot of confusion on the Republican side. Obviously running against Biden is preferred because he's so wounded right now, the American people have lost confidence in the job that he's done, and in his fitness for office for the next four years.
But honestly, Erin, there is a tremendous amount of we don't have any idea.
By the way, one comment on all these people who have been coming out with their concerns in the last few days that have apparently known about it for weeks or months, or years. They are not doing this out of concern for Biden the man. They are not doing an out of concern for Biden the president. They're doing it out of concern of the polls that they've seen.
To me, it's kind of craven honestly to see these Democrats, all of a sudden, come public with these concerns when they've known at all along just because the polls turn south.
BURNETT: All right, so on that, I want to bring James Carville back and James, I'm sorry about your audio. I think we've I think we fixed it now.
But I want to give you a chance to respond to what Scott just said that this perception that because all the polls are bad, that you got more, more Democrats jumping on the bandwagon of Biden has to go you. He used the word "craven" to describe that. How do you feel?
And I want to make it clear. You've been saying this for quite some time, so you're not in that category, but do you feel that way about those who are now suddenly jumping on board?
CARVILLE: Well, maybe Scott shocked that someone is reading polls. I'm not. I think the polls are good. Polling drives of what happens in politics, but people for a long time, they don't like his choice. Seventy-three percent of the country doesn't like this choice and Republican Party is hopeless band of mostly -- with a criminal nominee, they can all say what they want that he's not a criminal, he cannot tell the truth. He stole 34,000 lives and the Democrats offer the country some kind of challenge, and were going to win.
If we insist on sticking with the status quo, we're at risk of losing. It's quite that simple. The country does not want criminality, and that's Republican Party is offering, plain and simple.
BURNETT: And so, James, just in these in these final moments, may I just ask you briefly -- what are you most focused on here as this press conference begins? We don't know how long it'll go.
CARVILLE: Well, I think that step is it's inevitable that President Biden will choose not to run for reelection and we're going to have a really tight, messy procedure to pick our nominee and we have to focus on that, and it is a very difficult time in American politics.
But the choice, I don't think the country wants to go down the path of criminality and habitual lying. I really don't. I just want my party to hear them talking differently. BURNETT: And every -- you can see everyone in the room standing. The
president United States is walking out to begin his press conference. He approaches the podium -- and let's listen.
JOE BIDEN, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Thank you. Please be seated.
Well, good evening. We just concluded this year's NATO Summit. And the consensus among members was, it was a great success. It was especially momentous because it represented the 75th year of the most important military defense alliance in the world's -- history of the world.
We should never forget that NATO grew out of the wreckage of World War II, the most destructive war in history. The idea was to create an alliance of free and democratic nations that would commit themselves to a compact of collective defense.
Standing together, they knew we'd all be safer. An attack on one would be treated as an attack on all. And it's worked, because a would-be aggressor knows, they attack one of us, they will be attacked by all of us.
Sending that message is the best way to deter aggression and prevent wars in the first place.
For those who thought NATO's time had passed, they got a rude awakening when Putin invaded Ukraine. Some of the oldest and deepest fears in Europe roared back to life, because, once again, a murderous madman was on the march.
But, this time, no one cowered in appeasement, especially the United States. We collected intelligence that Russia was planning to invade Ukraine months before the invasion.
I -- I directed the intelligence community to be de -- a significant amount of intelligence to be declassified, so I could start building an international coalition to oppose the invasion.
Then, in February, some of you remember, I warned the world that the invasion was imminent. I rallied the coalition of 50 nations from Europe to Asia to help Ukraine defend itself. My foreign policy -- many foreign policy experts thought, as Putin amassed Russian forces just 100 miles north of Kyiv, the capital of Ukraine, but he thought -- he -- Putin thought it was a mother -- home of Russia, the capital would fall in less than a week.
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But Ukrainian people, backed by a coalition I helped build, stopped them. Today, Kyiv still stands, and NATO stands, stronger than it has ever been.
During the week in this summit, several heads of states made it a point, their statements, to thank the United States, and to thank me personally for all that NATO has achieved. NATO is not only stronger, NATO is bigger because we led the charge to
bring in Finland and Sweden into the alliance, and it makes a gigantic difference. Excuse me.
Meanwhile, my predecessor has made it clear he has no commitment to NATO. He's made it clear that he would feel no obligation to honor Article Five. He's already told Putin -- and I quote -- do whatever the hell you want.
In fact, the day after Putin invaded Ukraine, here's what he said: It was genius. It was wonderful.
Somebody forgot that, but that's exactly what he said.
But I made it clear, a strong NATO is essential to American security, and I believe the obligation of Article Five is sacred.
I remind all Americans, Article Five is revoked only once in NATO's long history and that was to defend America after 9/11.
I made it clear that I will not bow down to Putin. I will not walk away from Ukraine. I will keep NATO strong. That's exactly what we did and exactly what we'll continue to do.
Now, the future of American policy is up to the American people. This is much more than the political question. It's more than that. It's a national security issue.
Don't reduce this to the usual testament that people talk about, issues being (ph) a political campaign. It's far too important. It's about the world we live in for decades to come.
Every American must ask herself or himself, is a world safer with NATO? Are you safer? Is your family safer?
I believe the American people know the answer to all those questions is yes. And I believe the American people understand that America is stronger, stronger because of our alliances. I believe the American consensus from Truman to Reagan to me still holds today.
America cannot retreat from the world, but most lead the world. We're an indispensable nation as Madeleine Albright wrote.
Now, let me turn to three other key issues.
Just this morning, we had a great economic report showing inflation is down. Overall prices fell last month. Core inflation is the lowest it's been in three years.
Prices are falling for cars, appliances, and airfare -- airfares. Grocery prices have fallen since the start of the year. We're going to keep working to take down corporate greed to bring those prices down further.
Meanwhile, Trump's calling for a 10 percent tariff on everything Americans buy, including foods from overseas, vegetables and other necessities.
And economists tell us that that would cost the average American working family another $2,500 a year, as a tax of $2,500 a year.
Second, our efforts to secure the border, the southern border is working. After Trump killed the bipartisan effort to secure the border, that Republicans and Democrats had worked on, because he thought it would benefit me and make him a loser, Republicans walked away.
So I took executive action last month. As a consequence, working with Mexico, border encounters have gone down over 50 percent. The current level is lower today than when Trump left office.
Third, for months, United States is working to secure a ceasefire in Gaza, to bring the hostages home, to create a path for peace and stability in the Middle East.
Six weeks ago, I laid out a detailed plan, in writing. It was endorsed by the U.N. Security Council, the G7. That framework has now agreed on by both Israel and Hamas. So I sent my team to the region to hammer out the details. These are difficult, complex issues.
[19:35:11]
There are still gaps to close. We're making progress. The trend is positive, and I'm determined to get this deal done and bring an end to this war, which should end now.
Let me conclude where I began. We're the United States of America. We are the indispensable nation. Our leadership matters. Our partnerships matter. This moment matters. We must rise to meet it.
With that, I'll take your questions. I've been given a list of people to call on here.
Reuters, Jeff Mason.
JEFF MASON, REUTERS WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Mr. President, your political future has hung over the NATO summit a little bit this week. Speaker Pelosi made a point of suggesting that your decision on whether to stay in the race was still open. George Clooney and a handful of lawmakers have called on you to step aside.
Reuters is reporting tonight that UAW leadership is concerned about your ability to win.
BIDEN: UAW just endorsed me, but go ahead.
MASON: Thank you.
My question for you is, how are you incorporating these developments into your decision to stay? And separately, what concerns do you have about Vice President Harris's ability to beat Donald Trump if she were at the top of the ticket? BIDEN: Look, I wouldn't have picked Vice President Trump to be vice president until I think she was not qualified to be president. So let's start there. Number one, the fact is that the consideration is that I think I'm the most qualified person to run for president. I beat him once, and I will beat him again.
And secondly, the idea -- I served in the Senate a long time. The idea that senators and congressmen running for office worry about the ticket is not unusual.
And I might add, there were at least five presidents running or incumbent presidents who had lower numbers than I have now, later in the campaign. So there's a long way to go in this campaign. And so I'm just going to keep moving, keep moving.
And because, look, I got more work to do. We've got more work to finish. There's so much -- we've made so much progress.
Think about it. Think about where we are economically relative to the rest of the world. Name me a world leader who wouldn't want to trade places with our economy.
We've created over 800,000 manufacturing jobs. 1.5 million to -- I mean, so things are moving. We've got more to go.
Working-class people still have -- need help. Corporate greed is still at large. Their prices and corporate profits have doubled since the pandemic. They're coming down. And so I'm optimistic about where things are going.
Danny Kemp, AFP.
DANNY KEMP, AFP WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Thanks. Thank you, Mr. President. I wanted to ask you about your -- you mixed up Presidents Zelenskyy and Putin earlier today.
And you now have, sort of, your key allies, including the British Prime Minister, the President of France, and the German Chancellor having to step in and make excuses for you on that. Officials here are saying off the record that your decline has become noticeable. Hasn't this now, frankly, become damaging for America's standing in the world?
Thank you.
BIDEN: Did you see any damage to our standing in my leading this conference? Have you seen a more successful conference? What do you think? And the move -- the Putin piece -- I was talking about Putin, and I said, and now, at the very end, I said, here -- I mean, Putin, I said, no, I'm sorry, Zelenskyy. And then I added five other names.
Look, guys, the idea -- anybody suggests that -- that we haven't had an incredibly successful conference -- how many times did you hear, in that conference -- I know it sounds too self-serving, but other leaders, heads of state, in thanking me, saying the reason we're together is because of Biden, because Biden did the following. Look, folks, this is a -- well, anyway, I thought it was the most successful conference I've attended in a long time. And find me a world leader who didn't think it was.
Next one. I'm sorry, Nancy Cordes, CBS.
[19:40:01]
NANCY CORDES, CBS NEWS CHIEF WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Thank you, Mr. President. You mentioned other instances in history where presidents have faced a challenge. But what makes this moment in history so unique is that it is not your enemies who are calling on you to reconsider your decision to stay in the race, it's your friends, supporters, people who think you've done a great job over the past four years.
Have you spent time thinking about what it would mean for your legacy, which you've worked decades to build, if you stay in the race despite the concerns that voters say they have, and you lose to someone who you yourself have argued is unfit to return to the Oval Office?
BIDEN: Well, look, I'm not in this for my legacy. I'm in this to complete the job I started. As you'll recall, understandably, many of you and many economists thought my initial initiatives that I put forward can't do that, it's going to cause inflation, things are going to skyrocket, the debt's going to go up. What do you hear now from mainstream economists? Sixteen economic Nobel laureates said I've done a hell of a job.
That under my plan so far and whats going to happen in the future if I -- if I'm re-elected, that things are going to get much better. Our economy is growing. I was determined when I got elected to stop the trickle-down economic theory that as the wealthy did very well, everybody else would do well. My dad was a well-read decent guy. I don't remember much trickling down on his kitchen table.
Middle class people and working class people need help. And so what happened is I decided to implement, was able to implement as president what I believed when I was a senator. And that is that the way to build this economy is from the middle out and the bottom up. That way we grow the economy and the wealthy still do very well. They do fine. And guess what? Find me the economy -- mainstream economists who have said we haven't done well. What have we not done that isn't working right now?
And so we've got more to do, though. We've got to finish the job. And by the way, I come from the corporate state of the world. Delaware has more corporations in -- you know, registered in Delaware than every other state in the nation combined. I'm not anti- corporate. But the corporate -- corporate profits have doubled since the pandemic, doubled. It's time things get back in order little bit.
It's time, for example, if I'm reelected, we're going to make sure that rents are kept at 5 percent increase -- corporate rents for apartments and the like, and homes are limited to 5 percent. We're going to make a lot of changes that I've been talking about. Because were going to continue to grow this economy.
And by the way, I know -- remember how I got so roundly criticized for being so pro-union? Not labor, union, union. Well, guess what? I've been the most pro-union labor president in history, not a joke. And guess what? We had the Treasury Department do a study. When unions do better, everybody does better. Everybody does better.
And we talked about how, for example, when I went -- remember when we talked about getting the computer chip industry back in the United States? It used to be 40 percent of the industry. We invented chip, 40 percent of the industry was in the United States. And former presidents decided that the best way to do it was find the cheapest labor in the world, send the product over there, and import what the product was.
And so what'd I do? I was told not to go over to Europe -- I mean, to Asia, including Europe, but Asia. And I remember going to South Korea, convincing them invest $20 billion in the United States to build can chip -- computer chip factories. And I asked why when they finally decided to do it. And the answer was because you have the safest economy in the world and you have the best workers in the world.
So the whole idea here is we've -- we've invested -- there's over $50 billion in investment in computer chip manufacturing just coming into being. And none of you thought that would happen. None of you thought that would happen. But it's happening. And it's going to go economies all through -- and by the way, red states and blue states. Matter of fact, there is as much in red states as blue states. I've made no distinction.
So my generic point is that the idea that we can't continue to build and grow the economy, make it fair, and like I said, from my standpoint, when the middle class does well, that's when the whole economy grows. The poor have a shot. The wealthy do well. But the wealthy got to start paying their taxes.
[19:45:04]
CORDES: Vice president, Kamala Harris, would be ready to serve on day one. Can you elaborate on that? What is it about her attributes and her accomplishments over the last four years that make her ready to serve on day one, if necessary?
BIDEN: First of all, the way she's handled the issue of freedom, of women's bodies, kept control over their bodies. Secondly, her ability to handle almost any issue on the board. This was a hell of a prosecutor. She was a first rate person, and in the Senate she was really good. I wouldn't have picked her unless I thought she was qualified to be president from the very beginning. I made no bones about that. She is qualified to be president. That's why I picked her.
Felicia Schwartz, Financial Times.
REPORTER: Thank you, Mr. President. The presidency is the most straining job in the world, and it's 24/7. How can you say you'll be up for that next year, in two years, in four years, given the limits you've acknowledged that you have today?
BIDEN: The limits I have acknowledged?
REPORTER: There's been reporting that you've acknowledged that you need to go to bed earlier, end your evening around 8:00.
BIDEN: That's not true. Look. What I said was instead of my every day starting at 7:00 and going to bet a midnight, it'd be smarter for me to pace myself a little more. And I said, for example, the 8:00, 7:00 -- instead of starting the fundraiser at 9:00, let's start at 8:00. People get to go home by 10:00. That's what I'm talking about.
I'm not talking about -- and if you look at my schedule since I've -- since I made that stupid mistake of -- in the campaign, in the debate, I mean, my schedule has been full bore. I've done -- where's Trump been? Riding around in his golf cart, filling out his scorecard before he hits the ball? I mean, look, he's done virtually nothing. And I have I don't know how many. Don't hold me to it. Roughly 20 major events. Some with thousands of people showing up.
And so I just think it's better. I always have an inclination, whether I was playing sports or doing politics, just to keep going, nonstop. I just got to just pace myself a little more. Pace myself. In the next debate I'm not going to be traveling in 15 time zones a week before. Anyway, that's what it was about. That's what it's about. And by the way, even with that, I love my staff. But they add things. They add things all the time. Very -- I'm catching hell from my wife for that. Anyway.
I'm sorry, Zeke Miller, Associated Press.
ZEKE MILLER, WHITE HOUSE REPORTER, ASSOCIATED PRESS: Thank you, Mr. President. I have two questions for you. First, on the NATO summit, President Zelenskyy in your meeting with him, he pressed you to lift your limitations on the Ukrainian use of American weapons, saying that, in his public remarks afterwards, saying that Ukraine cannot win the war unless those limitations are lifted. Are you reconsidering your position on that?
And then secondly, following up on Felicia's question there, leaders of your own party have said that they're not worried about that debate. They're worried about the next bad night and the bad night after that. How can you reassure the American people that you are up to the task and that there won't be more bad nights at the debate stage or somewhere else?
BIDEN: First thing about Zelenskyy asking for the ability to strike deep into Russia. We've allowed Zelenskyy to use American weapons in the near term, in the near abroad into Russian. Whether or not he has we should -- he should be tagged, for example, should Zelenskyy, he's not. If he had the capacity to strike Moscow, strike the Kremlin, would that make sense? It wouldn't.
Question is, what's the best use of the weaponry he has, the weapon we were getting to him? I've gotten a more -- I've got a more long-range capacity as well as defensive capacity, and so our military is -- I'm following the advice of my commander-in-chief, my -- my chief of staff of the military, as well as the secretary of Defense and our intelligence people. And we're making a day-to-day basis on what they should and shouldn't -- how far they should win. That's a logical thing to do.
Second question related to --
MILLER: Bad nights. Bad nights. Sir, have can you reassure the American people that you won't have more bad nights, whether they'd be on a debate stage or it's a matter of foreign policy?
[19:50:05]
BIDEN: Well, I tell you what. The best way to assure them is the way I assure myself. And that is, am I getting the job done? Any I getting the job done?
Can you name me somebody who's gotten more major pieces of legislation passed in three and a half years?
I created 2,000 jobs just last week. So if I slow down, I can't get the job done. That's a sign that I shouldn't be doing it.
But there's no indication of that yet -- none.
What have we got here?
Marek (ph), Polaski (ph) Radio?
REPORTER: Thank you, Mr. President. How are you?
BIDEN: I'm well.
REPORTER: The elections in the U.S. have consequences around the world. You have pretty high standing in Europe. I just asked President Macron about you, and he said, "We are happy to have him as the president of the United States."
But there is a concern, many people in Poland and across Europe are worried that the former president may win the election. And there's a lot of concern that Donald Trump may weaken NATO, stop supporting Ukraine or push Ukraine to give up territories to Russia.
BIDEN: They're correct.
REPORTER: And your -- yourself was warning, just two minutes ago, about it.
So my question is, do you think that Europe will be left on its own if Donald Trump wins the election?
And what's your advice to European leaders to prepare for possible U.S. disengagement?
BIDEN: Well, look, I think -- how can I say this without sounding too self-serving? I'm not having any of my European allies come up to me and say, "Joe, don't run."
What I hear them say is, "You've got to win. You can't let this guy come aboard. He'd be a disaster. He'd be a disaster."
I mean, I think he said at one of his rallies -- don't hold me to this -- recently, where NATO, "I just learned about NATO," or something to that effect. Foreign policy has never been his strong point. And he seems to have an affinity to people who are authoritarian.
That worries, as I tell you, from Poland, that worries Europe. That worries Poland. And nobody, including the people of Poland, think that, if he wins in Ukraine, he's going to stop in Ukraine, that that's going to be the end of it.
And so what I can say is I think I'm the best qualified person to do the job, to make sure that Ukraine does not fall, that Ukraine succeeds, that the European alliance stays strong.
You may recall, no one was talking about Finland joining NATO. I remember talking to Putin in -- when, right after he got elected, in Geneva. And he was talking about what we should do; he -- we couldn't be in Eastern Europe, et cetera.
And I said, "You're looking for the Findalization (ph) of Ukraine. But you're going to get the NATO-ization of Finland." And about four weeks later, I got a call -- that's not true -- probably five months later, from the president of Finland, could he come and see me in my office. And I had -- I invited him to the Oval Office. We sat down and talked. He said he wanted to join NATO, could I help?
And I did. It wasn't automatic. And then I got a call from the Swedes.
REPORTER: (inaudible)
BIDEN: I beg your pardon?
And so Finland joined NATO; 800-mile border is a significant -- and they're already allies, but they weren't part of NATO.
And you heard -- I think you maybe -- I can't recall whether he said it publicly or in our -- in our closed meeting, but he wouldn't mind it being repeated. He said, "We decided in Finland, the people of Finland decided they had to be part of NATO. It was in our interests because of the joint ability to be together, to dissuade any attack on Finland, and the same thing with -- with Sweden.
It took a lot of selling to some folks, particularly in Turkey and other places, to agree to the expansion, but it expanded. And we're a hell of a lot stronger because of it, and more secure because of it.
[19:55:13]
And, by the way, I was able to get 50 other nations, 50, 5-0, to support Ukraine. Fifty. We're able to bring about a coalition between in -- of Europe and Asia, Japan and South Korea.
I just met with -- we've talked about AUKUS, and we talked about the relationship between Australia, New Zealand, Japan, South Korea, the United States. We're making the world safer and stronger because we have to deal with a new arrangement that exists in the world.
The Cold War is over. The post-war era is over. What is going to replace it?
And I respectfully suggest I have a pretty good idea what that should be. I could miss (ph) a lot of people will follow it, and we're just going to get stronger.
David Sanger? Where is he?
DAVID SANGER, CNN CONTRIBUTOR: Thank you, Mr. President.
BIDEN: Be nice, David.
SANGER: Mr. President, I -- the NATO declaration that was issued yesterday, it was very notable because it described China as a decisive enabler of the war in Ukraine -- for its provision of critical goods to the Russians. That's part of a broader partnership that seems to have cemented in place in the past two or three years, I think one that you were a little bit doubtful of when we asked you about it some time ago.
So I'd be interested to know whether you have a strategy now of trying to interrupt the partnership between China and Russia, and whether or not in a second term, you would pursue that -- if you could describe that strategy to us.
And along the way, could you also tell us whether you think -- just to follow up on Felicia's (ph) question -- that if you were in a room with Vladimir Putin, again, the way you were three years ago or with President Xi, that a few years from now, you will be able to go negotiate with them, handle them one-on-one?
BIDEN: Well, the first part of your question is, we discussed and I raised in the NATO Summit, and others raised, the future of China's involvement, what they're going to do. What they're doing with Russia in terms of accommodating, facilitating -- they're getting access to additional -- they're not supplying -- they're not supplying weapons themselves. They're supplying mechanisms, and then well be able to get weapons.
And China's position is basically -- and I've spent more time with Xi Jinping than any world leader has, over 90 hours since being vice president, all the way through, for real, and by the way, I handed all my notes.
But my point is that Xi believes that China is a large enough market that they can entice any country, including European countries, to invest there and return for commitments from Europe to do A, B, C, or D, or not to do certain things. What's happened is we had a long discussion about what we cannot -- you have to make clear, China has to understand that if they are supplying Russia with information and capacity, along with -- working with North Korea and others to help Russia in armament, that they're not going to benefit economically as a consequence of that by getting the kind of investment they're looking for.
And so, for example, we're in a situation where when -- and we've re- established direct contact with China after that -- remember of the balloon, quote/unquote, going down, all of a sudden, the thing (ph) came to an end? Well, we set up a new mechanism, there's a direct line between Xi and me and our military has direct access to one another. They contact one another when we have problems.
The issue is that we have to make sure that Xi understands there's a price to pay for undercutting both the Pacific basin, as well as Europe, and as it relates to Russia and dealing with Ukraine.
And so, we -- for example, if you want to invest in China, as you know, you know this area really well, trying to invest in China, you have to get a 51 percent Chinese owner, you have to make sure that you do by their rules --
