Dana Bash Says It Was ‘Jarring to Hear’ Biden Refuse to Declare Midterms Legitimate

CNN’s Dana Bash said Wednesday that she was taken aback by President Joe Biden’s refusal to declare that the results of the 2022 midterms will be legitimate during his press conference.

Biden spoke to reporters for nearly two hours in one of the longest presidential press conferences in history. Many were shocked at Biden’s stamina, while comments he made about the upcoming November elections stirred others.

Last week, Biden said those who stand in the way of his election reform legislation must decide whose side they are on. The president inferred those who are in favor of salvaging the filibuster are allied with notorious racists.

Biden was asked by NewsNation’s Allison Harris, “Speaking of voting rights legislation, if this isn’t passed, do you still believe the upcoming election will be fairly conducted and its results will be legitimate?”

Biden declined to state that the results of the elections, whatever those might be, should be accepted.

“Well, it all depends on whether or not we’re able to make the case to the American people that some of this is being set up to try to alter the outcome of the election,” Biden said.

The topic was bought up by CNN’s Anderson Cooper on AC360.

The host aired Biden’s response, and asked Bash, “Dana, what did you make of his response?”

Bash, in staying consistent with regard to previous statements she has made about former President Donald Trump with relation to election integrity claims, said Biden’s comments were “jarring.”

“Well, particularly the first part, Anderson,” Bash said. she continued,

What he said was–actually, the entire thing, but particularly the first part was, probably the most jarring to hear a president of the United States who is not Donald Trump even suggest, ahead of time, that an election isn’t legitimate. Having said that, the important thing to keep in mind is what he was trying to say, and that is in places like Arizona and places like Georgia, especially, that will determine… not only the governor’s race, but this balance of power in the Senate.

Bash added that while she believed Biden’s remark was more or less a gaffe, and not reflective of his true feelings, the president needs to be more careful with his language, going forward:

That is what he was try to say, but it’s not exactly how he said it, which is why it was so jarring. The people who know what he was trying to say get it. But still, with this kind of language, given where we are with the Republican party and how you have a former president trying to continue to sew doubt and claim that the election in 2020 was stolen, which is a total lie. That is an area where I know talking to Democrats they believe the president needs to be a lot more nuanced.

Watch above, via CNN.