‘Come On! Come On!’ Chris Wallace Accuses Pete Buttigieg of Saying ‘Biden Is Too Old’ in 2019 But Now He Isn’t ‘At Almost 82’
CNN anchor Chris Wallace accused Secretary of Transportation Pete Buttigieg of essentially saying “Joe Biden is too old” in 2019, only to now say he’s good to go in 2024 — and Buttigieg said he underestimated Biden.
The latest interviews from Wallace’s series Who’s Talking to Chris Wallace on HBO Max feature Buttigieg, Sopranos actor Michael Imperioli, and media entrepreneur Byron Allen.
In his interview with Buttigieg, Wallace asked about the debate over whether the president should run again in 2024, and played clips of some Democrats calling for generational change.
When Buttigieg pushed back, Wallace confronted him with a clip of his 2019 presidential campaign announcement, in which then-Mayor Pete said “A moment like that calls for hopeful and audacious voices from communities like ours. And yes, it calls for a new generation of leadership in this country.”
“Well, the president believed enough in that idea of empowering a new generation, that he’s invited people like me to play roles like this in this administration,” Buttigieg said, but Wallace wasn’t buying that.
He pushed back, offering his own interpretation of Buttigieg’s words, and Secretary Pete argued he and others may have misjudged Biden in 2019:
SECRETARY PETE BUTTIGIEG: But I also don’t think any one generation has a monopoly on good ideas. But…
CHRIS WALLACE: Well, okay, let me pick up on that, because here we have, you are you are announcing your candidacy for president in 2019 and talking about what the country needed.
SECRETARY PETE BUTTIGIEG: (VIDEO CLIP) A moment like that calls for hopeful and audacious voices from communities like ours. And yes, it calls for a new generation of leadership in this country.
SECRETARY PETE BUTTIGIEG: Well, the president believed enough in that idea of empowering a new generation, that he’s invited people like me to play roles like this in this administration.
CHRIS WALLACE: I… Come on! Come on, come on, come on, Mr. Secretary! I mean, what you were sort of saying there, I think you were saying, was Joe Biden is too old at almost 78 and that we need a generation, not as secretary of transportation, but as president. And now you’re saying he’s not going to be too old at almost 82?
SECRETARY PETE BUTTIGIEG: Let me say this. A lot of people in 2019, probably including me, would not have looked at then-Vice President Biden and thought that he was going to be the figure to deliver the kind of transformational accomplishments that we have since seen. But if you look at what happened, if you look at the aspirations that this presidency, that this administration has set, it’s extraordinary. It rivals any of the most audacious things that several other candidates, including me, put forward in that race. And America is the better for it.
Who’s Talking to Chris Wallace drops three full episodes each Friday morning, and CNN airs a version recapping highlights of the episodes every Sunday at 7 p.m.
Watch above via HBO Max and CNN.
