Biden dismisses debate performance as 'a bad night' in first clips of ABC interview

In a sneak peek of the highly anticipated ABC News interview with President Joe Biden airing Friday, the president doubled down on what has become his go-to explanation regarding his stumbling debate performance last week: it was a "bad night."

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The roughly one-minute clip is one of a handful ABC News is releasing ahead of the full interview's scheduled airing during "World News Tonight" at 8 p.m. ET. It offers a first look at the kinds of questions the president will field from "Good Morning America" and "This Week" anchor George Stephanopoulos.

“It seemed like you were having trouble from the first question in, even before he spoke?” Stephanopoulos asked in the clip.

“Well, I just had a bad night,” Biden said in response. When pressed further, Biden says he was sick with "a really bad cold.”

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The high-stakes interview marks Biden's first televised interview since his disastrous debate performance last week, and is increasingly viewed as a potential make-or-break moment for the Democrat as some in his own party suggest he move aside.

At other points in the short back-and-forth, Stephanopolous asks Biden if he watched the debate, to which Biden says "I don't think I did, no." Biden also alleged Trump lied 28 times, suggesting that impacted his performance, but said the way the debate went was "my fault, nobody else’s fault."

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Kathryn Palmer is an elections fellow for USA TODAY. Reach her at [email protected] and follow her on X @KathrynPlmr.

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: In released ABC interview clip, Biden blames cold, "really bad night" for debate