The former president stepped up his public re-emergence by attacking President Trump’s handling of foreign policy and defending his own decision to seek re-election.
Six months after his party lost the presidential election, former President Joe Biden is stepping back into the public spotlight with a scathing condemnation of his successor and his handling of international affairs.
In his first broadcast interview since leaving the White House, Biden attacked President Donald Trump’s management of the war in Ukraine and his dealings with global allies. Speaking to the BBC, Biden also defended the timing of his own withdrawal from the 2024 presidential campaign.
The former president singled out some of Trump’s actions on foreign policy — including his combative meeting in the Oval Office in February with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy.
“I found it sort of beneath America in the way that it took place,” Biden said of the meeting. He also pointed to calls by Trump to rename the Gulf of Mexico, take back the Panama Canal and acquire Greenland.
“What the hell’s going on here? What president ever talks like that? That’s not who we are,” Biden said. “We’re about freedom, democracy, opportunity — not about confiscation.”
While he did not mention Trump by name, his comments were a striking departure from a long tradition in which former presidents decline to criticize the leaders who follow. The attack suggested that Biden, 82, sees himself as continuing to have a public role in his party, even as many Democrats blame him for their 2024 defeat and want to focus on a new generation of leaders.
While many Democrats consider it politically damaging to focus too much on their last president, Biden appears inclined to defend his record and to try to shape his legacy.
In his halting speaking style, Biden boasted of being “so successful on our agenda.” He again defended his decision to seek reelection last year despite polling that, even before he began his campaign, showed that many Democrats did not want him to run for a second term.
“I don’t think it would have mattered,” he said when asked whether he thought he should have quit before his disastrous debate performance in June. “I don’t think that would have made much difference.”
The interview is part of a public reemergence by Biden, who has kept a relatively low profile since leaving the White House in January. In recent weeks, he has been spotted at the opening of “Othello,” a popular Broadway show, and at the Vatican for the funeral of Pope Francis.
On Thursday, Biden is scheduled to appear on ABC’s “The View” for another interview, where he is again expected to be asked about Trump and to defend his own record as president.
Biden routinely avoided engaging with the news media as both candidate and president, with his staff members going to great lengths to keep him away from reporters. He chose a British outlet to make his post-presidential news media debut followed by a daytime talk show, continuing his tradition of eschewing the traditional American press.
Three weeks ago, he gave a speech to disability advocates in Chicago in which he accused the current administration of “taking a hatchet” to the Social Security Administration and slammed Trump as doing “damage and destruction” to the benefits program.
In addition to expressing his displeasure at Trump’s leadership, Biden may also be raising his profile for financial gain.
His speech in Chicago was paid and, according to two people familiar with the matter, he is expected to participate in more speaking engagements in the future. He is also working on a memoir about his time in office and has re-signed with Creative Artists Agency, which represented him from 2017 to 2020.
His family’s post-presidential costs have increased since Trump took office. While Biden and his wife, Jill Biden, have Secret Service protection for the rest of their lives, Trump moved in March to revoke protection for their adult children, including Hunter Biden.
As Democrats search for a path forward, they are unlikely to welcome Joe Biden’s reminders about the past.
For years, he and his aides argued that he was the only Democrat who could defeat Trump — despite the party’s deep bench of governors, senators and other younger officials. By insisting on seeking reelection, then abruptly bowing out under pressure from his own party, Biden left Democrats scrambling to remake a billion-dollar presidential campaign for a different candidate over 107 days.
Former Vice President Kamala Harris, who replaced him on the ticket, has told friends that she would have beaten Trump if she had been given more time to campaign — the implication being that Biden should have quit the race earlier.
