Biden takes unexpected, impromptu questions from press in final days
President Biden opted Friday to voluntarily take a host of questions from the press after delivering remarks on the day’s job report, a speech that had been put on the White House schedule last minute.
The White House has been peppered with questions recently over whether Biden would hold an end-of-term press conference but would not confirm as much. Biden seemed to hold such a mini-press conference after remarks from the Roosevelt Room around 6 p.m. Friday; he told the small press pool gathered that he'd take some of their questions.
One inquiry Biden fielded involved his decision on pardons. He was asked whether he would pardon himself ahead of an incoming Trump administration in which Biden responded: “Why would I pardon myself for?”
“No, I have no contemplation of pardoning myself for anything. I didn’t do anything wrong,” Biden said.
The question over pardoning himself comes weeks after the president issued a full and unconditional pardon for his son Hunter Biden. He spent more than a year insisting he would not pardon his son and then, in announcing it, he said he was issuing the pardon because Hunter Biden had been subject to a political prosecution.
Biden has spoken about preemptive pardons with members of his senior team for a number of President-elect Trump critics, like Sen. Adam Schiff (D-Calif.), former Rep. Liz Cheney (R-Wyo.) and former White House chief medical adviser Anthony Fauci. He told USA Today in a recent interview that he has not yet decided to issue such pardons before leaving office.
Biden has about one week left to his presidency.
The president, in his remarks Friday, also remained adamant that he could have beaten Trump if he stayed in the 2024 race, despite polling showing him increasingly trailing then-candidate Trump and a disastrous debate performance that was the beginning of the end of his candidacy.
Biden said he made the decision to drop out because he didn’t want to risk fracturing the Democratic Party. He threw his support behind Vice President Harris, who ultimately lost the race to Trump.
“I think I would have beaten Trump, could have beaten Trump, and I think that Kamala could have beaten Trump and would have beaten Trump," Biden said Friday from the White House.
"Even though I thought I could win again, I thought it was better to unify the party. And it was the greatest honor of my life to be president of the United States, but I didn't want to be one who caused a party that wasn't unified to lose an election," he continued. "And that's why I stepped aside. But I was confident she could win."
Asked if Harris should make another White House run in 2028, Biden left it up to his vice president.
“I think that’s a decision she should make," Biden said. "I think she’s competent to run again in four years; that’ll be a decision for her to make.”
Some Harris allies have pointed the finger at Biden over her election defeat in November, arguing that had he dropped out sooner than July, it would have given her a better chance to build a successful campaign.
Biden’s appearances before the press have been scant in his final months, including on foreign visits where reporters have tried to engage with him.
Biden is expected to deliver his final farewell address to the nation Wednesday from the Oval Office.