President Joe Biden’s first interview since his poor debate performance last week is set to be scheduled with ABC’s George Stephanopoulous, as some Democrats are pushing for a new party nominee.
ABC News announced the interview with the president Tuesday, stating it would be set into two parts. According to the outlet portions of the discussion will be released Friday on ABC’s “World News Tonight” with the extended version being released Sunday morning on the network’s “This Week” show. (RELATED: Biden’s Debate Night Was Bad — His Tuesday May Have Been Even Worse)
While Stephanopoulous was previously called out in 2021 for releasing another interview with Biden in the same format, the previous Clinton staffer has appeared as the president’s go to host. Along with being a staffer to former President Bill Clinton from 1993 to 1996, reports later circulated in 2015 that Stephanopoulous donated $75,000 to the Clinton Foundation over the years, according to the Free Beacon.
The ABC host not only avoided disclosing the payments to his viewers, but conducted on-air interviews with the Clinton Foundation over allegations of their arguable relationship with foreign donors, the outlet reported. Stephanopoulous later apologized and claimed the donations were “in support of the work they’re doing on global AIDS prevention and deforestation” as public records in 2012 showed one payment of $25,000 and another two payments between 2013 and 2014 made in the same amount.
The ABC host has previously been criticized for giving Democrats favorable treatment in interviews. While co-moderating the 2008 Democratic presidential primary debate with Charlie Gibson, between former President Barack Obama and candidate Hillary Clinton, the two were called out by multiple outlets with the Washington Post labeling the questioning as “shoddy, despicable performances.”
EXCLUSIVE: @GStephanopoulos will sit down with Pres. Biden for the exclusive first television interview since the presidential debate. Tune in across ABC News platforms Friday, July 5.
Read more: https://t.co/ZEE7WVrBAf pic.twitter.com/Ck5QXgaSLp
— ABC News (@ABC) July 2, 2024
Both Stephanopoulous and Gibson were reprimanded by the media for dwelling “entirely on specious and gossipy trivia,” some of which was already disputed publicly, according to the Washington Post.
Within this year as well, Stephanopoulous received backlash for his interview with Republican South Carolina Rep. Nancy Mace in which the ABC host could be heard in an intense exchange over Mace’s political choices as a rape victim. During the interview, Mace called out Stephanopoulous for “shaming” her as the ABC host continued to press her on her support of former President Donald Trump.
The interview from Biden comes after his poor debate performance in which he was heard with a raspy voice and notably had multiple gaffs where he struggled to finish his arguments at times. While surrogates of the president have been making rounds to defend a second term, questions regarding Biden’s mental fitness have not only circulating among politicians and media, but with voters across the nation.
A recent CBS/YouGov poll conducted after the debate now shows 72% of Americans do not believe Biden has the mental and cognitive health to complete a second term, compared to 65% which were surveyed at the beginning of June.
Notably, Democratic National Committee (DNC) member James Zogby pitched a letter to the committee’s leadership Tuesday, outlining a plan in how the party could move forward if Biden were to step aside, according to The New York Times.
