Biden Asked Point-Blank If He ‘Regrets’ Not Dropping Out Against Trump Sooner

BBC host Nick Robinson asked former President Joe Biden point-blank if he “regrets” not dropping out sooner to “give someone else a bigger chance” to beat President Donald Trump.

Biden’s brief chat with Robinson on BBC Radio 4’s Today program marked his first interview since he left office in January.

The bulk of the interview dealt with international trade and diplomacy, but Robinson wrapped up by asking about the bombshell moment Biden announced he would no longer be seeking a second term with just three months to go in the campaign.

Asked if he thought dropping out sooner would have made a difference and whether he had any regrets, Biden responded with a resounding “no” on both counts:

NICK ROBINSON: I can hear your passion. I can here your anxiety that the world is changing the way it has. And for a long time you believed–. You said, “I’m the man who can stop Donald Trump.”.

And you did once. And in the end you withdrew from that election campaign at the last minute. It’s a question you know lots of people ask you, Mr. President.

Did you leave it too late? Should you have withdrawn earlier, given someone else a bigger chance?

PRESIDENT JOE BIDEN: I don’t think it would have mattered.

We left at a time when we had a good candidate, she was fully funded, and what happened was I had become–.

What we had set out to do, no one thought we could do. And I’d become so successful on our agenda, it was hard to say, “Now I’m gonna stop now.”.

I meant what I said when I started, that I think I’m prepared to hand this to the next generation, the transition government. But things move so quickly that it made it difficult to walk away– to get–.

And it was a hard decision. But–

NICK ROBINSON: Regrets, though?

PRESIDENT JOE BIDEN: No, I think it was the right decision. I think that the— well, It was just a difficult decision.

Watch above via BBC Radio 4’s Today program.