President Biden acknowledged in a new interview released on Wednesday that he might not have had the vitality to serve another four years in office, even as he insisted that he could have won re-election had he stayed in the race.
Mr. Biden, 82, who abandoned his bid for a second term in July under enormous pressure from Democrats panicked over his faltering debate performance against former President Donald J. Trump, maintained that he was still in good enough shape to run the country as he finishes his term.
“So far, so good,” he told USA Today. “But who knows what I’m going to be when I’m 86 years old?”
That was exactly the point many Democrats raised privately for months before the issue exploded into public view with the televised debate in June, when a frail-looking Mr. Biden struggled to finish sentences and at times appeared blank or confused.
Until then and even after the debate for a few weeks, Mr. Biden and his closest advisers argued that he was still vigorous enough to beat Mr. Trump despite polls showing widespread doubts about his capacity, including among Democrats. Even now, after his stand-in, Vice President Kamala Harris, lost to Mr. Trump, Mr. Biden said he would have prevailed.
“It’s presumptuous to say that, but I think yes,” Mr. Biden said in the interview. But when the question turned to whether he would have been able to bear the extraordinary burdens that come with the presidency until age 86, Mr. Biden, already the oldest president in American history, conceded doubts that he rarely admits to. “I don’t know,” he said.
“When Trump was running again for re-election, I really thought I had the best chance of beating him,” Mr. Biden said of the 2020 contest that he won. “But I also wasn’t looking to be president when I was 85 years old, 86 years old. And so I did talk about passing the baton.”
Mr. Biden added: “But I don’t know. Who the hell knows?”
Mr. Biden also confirmed in the interview that he was considering granting pre-emptive pardons to some of Mr. Trump’s perceived enemies to protect them against what the incoming president has vowed will be “retribution.” Among those known to be under consideration are figures like former Representative Liz Cheney, Republican of Wyoming, and Dr. Anthony S. Fauci, who led the response to the coronavirus pandemic.
During his meeting with Mr. Trump after the election, Mr. Biden said he tried to dissuade him from pursuing his adversaries.
“I tried to make clear that there was no need, and it was counterintuitive for his interest to go back and try to settle scores,” Mr. Biden said. Mr. Trump did not say much in response. “He didn’t reinforce it. He just basically listened.”
Mr. Biden’s decision to run for re-election may prove to be one of the most consequential of his presidency and a major factor in his legacy. By insisting at first that he could still serve as president into his mid-80s, he went back on his 2020 promise to be a “bridge” to another generation, preventing the party from grooming a successor earlier.
By the time he dropped out, the party had no time for a full competition to replace him as its nominee. Ms. Harris, who stepped up to take the nomination in part by default, had just 107 days to mount a general election campaign against Mr. Trump and fell short by 1.5 percentage points in the popular vote.
Many Democrats have soured on Mr. Biden as a result, blaming him for Mr. Trump’s return to power. “I don’t think there is any doubt that our country would have been better off if President Biden had decided not to run for re-election,” Senator Michael Bennet of Colorado told The New York Times a few weeks after the election, reflecting widespread sentiments in the party.
Mr. Biden’s age and capacity have been an issue through much of his tenure. Aides and allies who work closely with him have long said that he remains mentally sharp in asking questions, processing information and making decisions even as he has aged visibly in terms of his physical appearance and ability to communicate his thoughts.
While he sometimes struggles to summon names or words as anyone his age might, they said, it has not affected his ability to make judgments and lead wisely.
But his halting gait, softening voice and increasing frailty have made it harder for him to project strength and command the national stage. The interview with USA Today itself demonstrated how the White House tried to shield him from encounters that might throw him off. After four years in office, it was the first time he has ever given an interview to a print news organization.
Unlike any president in generations, he has never given one while in office to any other newspaper, including The Wall Street Journal, The Washington Post, The Los Angeles Times, The Financial Times or The New York Times. Overall, Mr. Biden has given fewer interviews of any kind and conducted fewer news conferences than any president in decades.
Susan Page, the Washington Bureau chief for USA Today who conducted her newspaper’s interview with him on Sunday at the White House, wrote that over the course of nearly an hour he “was engaged and loquacious, though at times he spoke so softly that it was difficult to hear him.”
He made the case that age has been an asset for him. “I think the only advantage of being an old guy is that I’ve known every major world leader for a long time. And so I had a perspective on each of them and their interests,” said Mr. Biden, who previously served 36 years in the Senate and eight as vice president. “And so I think it helped me navigate some of the fundamental changes taking place, whether it’s in Europe, in Latin America, in the Middle East, in the Far East.”
During the interview, he expressed frustration with misinformation and Mr. Trump’s ability to lie without consequence. And he said he regretted how long it had taken to get the road, bridge and other infrastructure projects he financed going to show the benefits of his policies. But he expressed optimism that he will eventually be remembered for his achievements.
“I hope that history says that I came in and I had a plan how to restore the economy and re-establish America’s leadership in the world,” Mr. Biden said. “That was my hope. I mean, you know, who knows? And I hope it records that I did it with honesty and integrity, that I said what was on my mind.”
