ABC News anchor George Stephanopoulos reportedly said former President Joe Biden was “heartbreaking up close” following an interview that was meant to reassure Americans after the Democrat’s disastrous debate performance sparked concerns over the octogenarian’s declining health.
Stephanopoulos sat with Biden, then 81, amid increasing calls for his removal from the 2024 presidential ticket after last summer’s debate against Donald Trump — but was disappointed in his competency, author Chris Whipple wrote in his new book, “Uncharted: How Trump Beat Biden, Harris, and the Odds in the Wildest Campaign in History,” according to Fox News.
The book looked at the behind-the-scenes friction among Democratic leaders as Biden was urged to drop out of the race and noted his administration accepted the interview with Stephanopoulos to show he still had the mental acuity to take on Trump at the polls.
Whipple described Biden as “hoarse and semi-coherent” during the interview — which left the “This Week” host equally alarmed.
“Stephanopoulos questioned the president gently, like a grandson,” Whipple wrote. “Afterward, when I asked the ABC anchor by email for his impressions, he replied: ‘Heartbreaking up close.’”
The longtime journalist also expressed his concerns about the president’s health when approached by a man on the street after the interview, telling the passerby, “I don’t think he [Biden] can serve four more years.”
Even though his sentiment was echoed by Democratic leaders, Stephanopoulos later backtracked after his comments made headlines, saying he regretted his candid response.
“Earlier today I responded to a question from a passerby. I shouldn’t have,” Stephanopoulos said at the time.
ABC News also tried to distance itself from his comments, writing in a statement: “George expressed his own point of view and not the position of ABC News.”
Stephanopoulos’s fateful interview with Biden failed to curb growing doubts about his political future as the then-president gave multiple excuses for his poor performance — and again showed many of the same issues that plagued him during the debate.
During the July sitdown, Biden blamed his frequent errors the week before on a “bad episode,” rather than a sign of permanent deterioration — but declined to take a cognitive exam to prove his condition.
“Look, I have a cognitive test every single day,” Biden said. “Every day, I’ve had tests. Everything I do. You know, not only am I campaigning, I’m running the world. And that’s not — it sounds like hyperbole, but we are the central nation of the world.”
Following his shocking performance, more than a dozen congressional Democrats called on him to step down from the race, which led to then-Vice President Kamala Harris entering the ring in the final months before Election Day.
She went on to lose in a landslide to Trump.
