distinguished guests the president of the United States Joe Biden everybody thank you please be seated well good evening we just concluded this year's NATO Summit and the consensus among the members was was a great success it especially momentous because it represented the 75th year the most important military defense Alliance in the world's history of the world we should never forget that NATO grew out of the wreckage of World War II the most destructive war in history the idea was to create an alliance of free and democratic nations that would commit themselves to a compact of collective defense standing together they knew we'd all be safer attack on one would be treated as an attack on all and it's worked because a wouldbe aggressor knows they attack one of us they'll be attacked by all of us sending that message is the best way to deter aggression and prevent wars in the first place for those who thought NATO's time had passed they got a roote Awakening when Putin invaded Ukraine some of the oldest and deepest fears in Europe roared back to life because once again a murderous madman was on the March but this time no one cowed in appeasement especially the United States we collected intelligence that Russia was planning to invade Ukraine months before The Invasion I I directed the intelligence Community to be de a significant amount of intelligence be Declassified so I could start building an International Coalition to oppose the invasion then in February some of remember I warned the world that the invasion was imminent I rallied the Coalition of 50 nations from Europe to Asia to help Ukraine defend itself my foreign policy many foreign policy experts thought as Putin amassed Russian forces just 100 miles north of Kei the capital of Ukraine but he thought he Putin thought it was the mother home of Russia the capital would fall in less than a week but the Ukrainian people backed by a coalition to help build stopped them today ke still stands and NATO stands stronger than it has ever been during the week of this Summit several head of States made it a point in their statements to thank the United States and to thank me personally for all that NATO has achieved NATO is not only stronger NATO is bigger because we led the charge to bring in Finland and Sweden and in the alliance and it makes a gigantic difference excuse me Meanwhile my predecessor has made it clear he has no commitment to Nato he's made it clear that he would feel no obligation to honor Article 5 he's already told Putin and I quote do whatever the hell you want in fact the day after Putin invaded Ukraine here's what he said it was genius it was wonderful some of you forgot that but that's exactly what he said but I made it clear a strong Nat is essential to American Security and I believe the obligation of Article 5 is sacred and I would remind all Americans Article 5 is invoked only once in NATO's long history and that was to defend America after 9/11 I made it clear that I will not bow down to poent I will not walk away from Ukraine I will keep NATO strong that's exactly what we did and exactly what we'll continue to do now the future of American policy is up to the American people this is much more than the political question it's more than that it's a national security issue don't reduce this to the usual Testament that people talk about issues of being a political campaign is far too important it's about the world we live in for decades to come every American must ask herself or himself is the world safer with NATO are you safer is your family safer I believe the American people no the answer to all those questions is yes and I believe the American people understand that America is stronger stronger because of our alliance I believe the American consensus from Truman to Reagan to me still holds today America cannot Retreat from the world we must lead the world we are an indispensable Nation as M Albright wrote now let me turn to three other key issues just this morning we had a great economic report showing inflation is down overall prices fell last month core inflation is the lowest has been in three years prices are falling for cars appliances and airfare air fars grocery prices have fallen since the start of the year we're going to keep working to take down corporate greed to bring those prices down further meanwhile Trump's calling for a 10% tariff in everything Americans buy including food from overseas vegetables and other necessities an economists tell us that that would cost the average American working family another $2,500 a year it's a tax of $2,500 a year second a reference to secureity of the Border Southern border is working after Trump killed the bipartisan effort to secure the Border Republicans and Democrats had worked on because he thought it would benefit me and make him a loser Republicans walked away so I took executive action like last month as a consequence working with Mexico border encounters have gone down over 50% the current level is lower today than when Trump left office third for months the United States has been working to secure a ceasefire in Gaza to bring the hostages home to create a path for peace and stability in the Middle East six weeks ago I laid out a detailed plan in writing was endorsed by the UN Security Council the G7 that framework is now agreed on by both Israel and Hamas so I sent my team to the region to hammer out the details these are difficult complex issues there's still gaps to close we're making progress the trend is positive and I'm determined to get this deal done and bring an end to this War which should end now let me conclude where I began we're the United States of America we are the indispensable Nation our leadership matters our Partnerships matter this moment matters we must rise to meet it with that I'll take your questions I've been given a list of people to call on here Reuters Jeff Mason Mr President your political Future Has hung over the NATO Summit a little bit this week speaker Pelosi made a point of suggesting that your decision on whether to stay in the race was still open George Clooney and a handful handful of lawmakers have called on you to step aside Reuters is reporting tonight that UAW leadership is concerned about your ability to win do a just endorse me but go ahead thank you um my question for you is how are you incorporating these developments into your decision to stay and separately what concerns do you have about vice president Harris's ability to beat Donald Trump if she were at the top of the ticket look I wouldn't have picked vice president Trump to be vice president that I think she was not qualified to be president so let's start there number one the fact is that the consideration is that I think I'm the most qualified person to run for president I beat him once and I will beat him again secondly the idea I served in the Senate a long time the idea that senators and congressmen running for office worry about the ticket is Not Unusual and I might add there at least five presidents running or incumbent presidents who had lower numbers than I have now later in the campaign so there's a long way to go in this campaign and so I uh I'm just going to keep moving keep moving and because look I got more work to do we got more work to finish there's so much we made so much progress think about it think about where we are economically relative to the rest of the world name me a world leader wouldn't want to trade places with our economy we created over 800,000 manufacturing jobs 1.5 million I mean so things are moving we got more to go workingclass people still have need help corporate greed is still at large their prices the corporate profits have doubled since the pandemic they're coming down and so I'm optimistic about where things are going Danny Camp AF P um thanks um thank you Mr President um I wanted to ask you um about your uh you mixed up uh presidents uh zalinsky and Putin earlier today um um and you now have sort of your key allies including the British prime minister the president of France and the German Chancellor having to step in and make excuses for you on that um and officials here are saying off the Record that your decline has become noticeable hasn't this now frankly become damaging for America's standing in the world thank you did you see any damage or standing in by Leading this conference have you seen a more successful conference what do you think and the mo the Putin piece I was talking about Putin and I said and now at the very end I said here I mean Putin I said no I'm sorry sininsky and then I add five other names look guys the idea anybody suggests that that that we haven't had an incredibly successful conference how many time did you hear in that conference I don't know it sounds too self-serving but other leaders heads of state and thanking me saying the reason we're together is because of Biden because Biden did the following look folks this is uh well anyway I uh I thought it was most successful conference I've attended a long time and find me a world leader who didn't think it was next one uh sorry Nancy ctis CBS thank you Mr President you mentioned other instances in history where presidents have faced a challenge but what makes this moment in history so unique is that it is not your enemies who are calling on you to reconsider your decision to stay in the race it's your friends supporters people who think you've done a great job over the past four years have you spent time thinking about what it would mean for your legacy which you've worked decades to build if you stay in the race despite the concerns that voters say they have and you lose to someone who you yourself have argued is unfit to return to the Oval Office well look I'm not in this for my legacy I'm in this to complete the job I started as you recall understandably many of you and many economists thought my initial in initiatives that I put forward can't do that it's going to cause inflation things are going to Skyrocket the debts going to go up what are you hearing now from mainstream Economist 16 economic Nobel laurates said I've done a hell of a job than under my plan so far and what's going to happen in the future if I if I've reelected that things are going to get much better our economy is growing I was determined when I got elected to stop the trickle down economic theory that if the wealthy did very well everybody else would do well my dad was a well read decent guy I don't remember much trickling down on his kitchen table middle class people and workingclass people need help and so what happened is I decided to implement was able to implement as president but I believ when I was a Senator and that is that the way to build this economy is from the middle out and the bottom up that way we grow the economy and the wealthy still do very well they do fine and guess what finding an econom mainstream economists who said we haven't done well what have we not done that isn't working right now and so we got more to do though we got to finish the job and by the way I come from the corporate state of the world Delaware has more corporations in in you know registered in Delaware than every other state in in the nation combined I'm not anti-corporate but corporate corporate profits have doubled since the pandemic doubled it's time things get back in order a little bit it's time for example if I'm reelected we're going to make sure that rents are kept at 5% increase of corporate rents for apartments and the like and homes are limited to 5% we're going to make a lot of changes that I've been talking about because we're going to continue to grow this economy and by the way I know remember how I got so roundly criticized to being so pro-union not labor union union well guess what I've been the most pro-union labor president in history not a joke and guess what we had the treasury Department do a study when unions do better everybody does better everybody does better and we talk about how for example when I went remember when we talked about getting the computer chip industry back in the United States used to be 40% of the industry we invented the chip 40% of the industry was in the United States and former presidents decided that the best way to do is find the cheapest labor in the world send the product over there and import what the product was and so what what did I do I was told not to go over to Europe I mean to Asia including Europe but Asia I remember going to South Korea convincing them to invest $20 billion in the United States to build comp computer chip factories and I asked why when they finally decided to do it and the answer was because you have the safest economy in the world and you have the best workers in the world so the whole idea here is we've uh We've invested there's over $50 billion in investment in computer ship manufacturing just coming in the beam none of you thought that would happen none of you thought that would happen but it's happening it's happening it's going to grow economies all through and by the way red States and blue States matter of fact there's as much in red States and blue States I've made no distinction so my generic point is that the idea that we can't continue to build and grow the economy make it fair and like I said for from my standpoint when the middle class does well that's when the whole economy grows the poor of a shot the wealthy do well but they wealthy got to start paying their taxes as a followup sir you mentioned that your vice president KLA Harris would be ready to serve on day one can you elaborate on that what is it about her attributes and her accomplishments over the last four years that make her ready to serve on day one if necessary first of all the way she's handle the issue of freedom of women's bodies to have control over their bodies secondly her ability to handle almost any issue on the board this was a hell of a prosecutor she was a First Rate person and and in the Senate she was really good I wouldn't have picked her unless I thought she was qualified to be president from the very beginning I made no bones about that she is qualified to be president that's why I picked her Felicia Schwarz financial times thank you Mr President presidency is the most straining job in the world and it's 247 how can you say you'll be up for that next year in 2 years in four years given the limits you've acknowledged that you have today the limits I've acknowledged I have there's been reporting that you've acknowledged that you need to go to bed earlier and your evening around 8 that's not true look what I said was instead of my every day starting at 7 and going to bed at midnight it'd be smarter for me to Pace myself a little more and I said for example the 8 76 stuff instead of starting a fundraiser at 9:00 start at 8:00 people get to go home by 10:00 that's what I'm talking about I'm not talking about and if you look at my schedule since I've since I made that stupid mistake of in the campaign in in the debate I mean my schedule has been full boore I've done where's and where's Trump been riding around his golf cart filling out his scorecard before he hits the ball I mean look he's done virtually nothing and I have I don't know how many don't hold me to roughly 20 major events someone with thousands of people showing up and so I just think it's better I always have an inclination whether I was playing sports or doing politics just to keep going not stop I just got to just Pace myself a little more Pace myself and the next debate I'm not going to be traveling in the 15 time zones a week before anyway that that that's what it was about that's what it was about and by the way even with that I love my staff but they add things add things all the time very at I'm catching hell for my wife for that anyway um I'm sorry uh Zeke Miller Associated Press thank you Mr President uh two questions for you first uh on the NATO Summit president zinsky and your meeting with him um he pressed you to uh lift your limitations on the Ukrainian use of American weapons saying that and his public remarks afterward saying that Ukraine cannot win the war unless those limitations are lifted are you could reconsidering your position on that and then secondly following up on Felicia's question there leaders of your own party have said that uh they're not worried about uh that debate they're worried about the next bad night and the bad night after that how can you reassure the American people uh that you are up to the task and that there won't be more bad nights at a debate stage or somewhere else first thing about s inski asking for the ability to strike deep into Russia we've allowed zalinski to use American weapons in the near term and the near abroad into Russia whether or not he has we should be he should be attacked for example should zinski he's not if he had the capacity to strike Moscow strike to Kremlin would that make sense it wouldn't the question is what's the best use of the Weaponry he has and the Weaponry we're getting to him I've gotten a more High I got a more long range capacity as well as defensive capacity and so our military is where I'm following the advice of my commanderin-chief my my my of the chief of staff of the military as well as the Secretary of Defense and our intelligence people and we're making a day today basis on what they shouldn't should how far they should go in that's a logical thing to do second question related to bad nights bad nights sir how can you reassure the American people that you won't have more bad nights whether they be on a debate stage or it's a matter of foreign policy well I tell you what um the best way to assure them is the way I assure myself and that is am I getting the job done am I getting the job done can you name me somebody somebody who's gotten more major pieces of legislation passed in three and a half years I got created 2,000 jobs this last week so if I slow down I can't get the job done that's a sign that I shouldn't be doing it but there's no indication of that yet none um who I got here uh meric py radio thank you Mr President how are you I'm well the elections in the US have consequences around the world you have pretty high standing in Europe I just asked president macron about you and he said we are happy to have him as the President of the United States but there is a concern um many people in Poland across Europe are worried that the former president may win the election and uh there's a lot of concern that uh Donald Trump May weaken NATO stop supporting Ukraine or push Ukraine to give up territories to Russia they're correct and your yourself was warning just two minutes ago uh about it so my question is um do do you think that Europe will be left on its own if Donald Trump wins the election and what's your advice to European leaders to prepare for possible us disengagement well look I think how can I say this without sounding too self- serving I'm not hand any my European allies come up to me and say Joe don't run what I hear them say is you've got to win you can't let this guy come forward he'd be disaster it'd be disaster I mean I think he said in one of his rallies don't hold me to this recently where NATO I just learned about NATO or something to that effect foreign policy has never been his strong point and and he seems to have an affinity to people who are authoritarian that worries as I tell you from Paul that worries Europe that worries Poland and nobody including the people of Poland think that if he wins in Ukraine he's going to stop in Ukraine if that's going to be the end of it and so what I can say is I think I'm the best qualified person to do the job to make sure that Ukraine is not fall that Ukraine succeeds that the European Alliance stays strong you may recall no one was talking about Finland joining NATO I remember talking to Putin in when right after we got elected in Geneva and he was talking about what we should do we couldn't have be in Eastern Europe Etc and I said you're looking for the finalization of Ukraine cuz you're going to get the NATO isation of Finland and about four weeks later I got a call that's not true probably five months later from the president of Finland could he come and see me in my office I had I invited him to the Oval Office we sat down and talked he said he want to join NATO could I help and I did wasn't automatic and then I got a call from the sweds I beg your pardon and so Finland joined NATO 800 mile border it's a significant and they were already allies but they weren't part of NATO and you heard I think you heard maybe I can't recall when he said a public in our in a closed meeting but he wouldn't mind being repeated he said we decided in Finland the people of Finland decided they had to be part of NATO wasin our interest because as of a joint ability to be together just to suade any attack on Finland and the same thing with with Sweden it took a lot of selling to some folks particularly uh in turkey and other places to agree to the expansion but it expanded and we're hell of a lot stronger because of it we're more secure because of it and by the way I was able to get 50 other nations 5050 to support Ukraine 50 we're able to bring about a coalition between in of Europe and Asia Japan and South Korea I just met with we talked about Aus and we talked about the relationship between Australia New Zealand Japan South Korea the United States we're making the world safer and stronger because we have to deal with the new Arrangement that exists in the world the Cold War is Over the postwar era is over what is going to replace it and I respectfully suggest I have a pretty good idea what that should be I convinced a lot of people to follow it we're just going to get stronger um David Sanger [Applause] where's thank you Mr President be nice David uh Mr President uh the NATO declaration that was uh issued yesterday um was very notable because it described China as a decisive enabler of the war in Ukraine H for its provision of critical Goods to the Russians um that's part of a a broader partnership that seems to have cemented in place in the past two or three years I think one that you were a little bit doubtful of when we asked you about it some time ago so I'd be interested to know whether you have a strategy now of trying to interrupt the partnership between China and Russia and whether or not in a second term you would pursue that if you could describe that strategy to us and along the way could you also tell us whether you think just to follow up on Felicia's question that if you were in a room with Vladimir Putin again the way you were three years ago or with president shei that a few years from now you will be able to go negotiate with them handle them oneon-one well the first part of the question is we discussed and I raised in the NATO Summit and others raise the future of China's involvement what they're going to do what they're doing with Russia in terms of accommodating facilitating that they're getting access additional they're not supplying they're not supplying weapons themselves they're supplying mechanisms for them to be able to get weapons and China's position is basically and I've spent more time with xiin ping than any world leader has over 90 hours since being vice president all the way through for real and by the way I handed all my notes uh but my point is that she believes that China is a large enough market that they can entice any country including European countries to invest there in return for commitments from Europe to do ABC or D or not to do certain things what's happened is we had a long discussion about what we cannot we have to make clear China has to understand that if they are supplying Russia with with information and capacity along with working with North Korea and others to help Russia and Armament that they're not going to benefit economically as a consequence of that by getting the kind of investment they're looking for and so for example we're in a situation where when and we've reestablished direct contact with China after that remember the balloon quote unquote going down all all of a sudden thing came to an end well we set up a new mechanism there's a direct line between she and me and our military has direct access to one another and they contact one another when we have problems the issue is that we have to make sure that she understands there's a price to pay for undercutting both the Pacific Basin as well as Europe and it relates to Russia and dealing with Ukraine and so we for example if you want to invest in China as you know you know this area really well why invest in China you have to have a 51% Chinese owner you have to make sure that you do by their rules and you can't you don't have the authority and that you have to provide all access to all the data and information you have there was a while there as you recall the last Administration and other administrations where the access to that market was enticing enough to get companies to come in because they had access to over a billion people in the a market not a billion but a lot of people on the market and so they were doing it but that that got curtailed when we started saying we're going to play by the same rules for example the idea they don't abide by the international rules related to subsidizing products by the government funding so guess what they're not going to be able to export their electric vehicles to the United States without a significant terar others are doing the same thing around the world but it is a concern it is a concern that you have both China South K North Korea Russia or countries that are not necessarily coordinated in the past looking to figure out how they can have impact you strategy to interrupt that impact yes I do but I'm not prepared to talk about the detail of it in public uh and I think you'll see that some of our European friends are going to be curtailing their invol investment in Russia I mean in excuse me in uh in China as long as China continues to have this indirect Su help to Russia in terms of being able to help their economy as well as as well as help them in as a a consequence that their ability to fight in in uh in Ukraine the other thing that we talked a lot about is that and I raised it and there was I I didn't hear any I can't swear that everyone agreed because not everybody got to talk about it but we have we need a new industrial policy in the West for example we talked about how both the EU as well as NATO has to be able to begin to build their own munition capacity has to be able to generate their own capacity to provide for weapons and the ability to it came as a surprise to some of us how we had fallen behind in the West in terms of the ability to construct new material new Weaponry new new everything from from vehicles to weapon systems and so one of the things that came out of this was we're going to be meeting again with a number of my colleagues my Europe colleagues is what do we do to increase the capacity of the West particularly in Europe and Japan to be able to generate the kind of ability to produce their own weapon systems not just for themselves but to be able to generate that it's the same that's that's what Russia's trying to figure out that they went to China and they didn't get the weapons but then then they went to North Korea but we're going to be in a position where the West is is going to become the industrial base for the able the ability to have all the defensive weapons that we need that was a discussion as well Mr President I'm not sure you answered on whether you would be ready to go deal with Putin and she two or 3 years from now I'm ready to deal with them now and three years from now look um the uh like I said I'm dealing with with she right now and direct contact with him uh I have no good reason to talk to Putin right now uh there's not much that uh he is prepared to do in terms of accommodating any change in his behavior and uh but there isn't any world leader I'm not prepared to deal with but I I understand the generic point is is Putin ready to talk I'm not ready to talk to Putin unless Putin's ready to change his be his behavior and the idea look Putin's got a problem first of all in this war that he has supposedly have won and by the way I think don't hold me the exact number but I think they Russia had 17.3% of of Ukraine that they've conquered now it's 17.4 I mean in terms of percent percentage of territory they've not been very successful they've called horrible damage and loss of life but they've also lost over 350,000 troops military killed or wounded they've over a million people particularly young people with technical technical capability leaving Russia because they see no future there they've got a problem but what they do have control of is they are very good at controlling and running the the public outcry that relates to how they use mechanisms to communicate with people they lie like hell through the constituencies they lie like hell about what's going on and uh and so the idea that we're going to be able to fundamentally change Russia in the near term is not likely but one thing for certain if we allow Russia to succeed in Ukraine they're not stopping in Ukraine I recommend I know you know this because you've you've written about it read put speech after they moved in what it was all about in Kei it wasn't about just anyway read what he objective is and anyway but so I I I think that uh I'm prepared to talk to any leader who wants to talk including if Putin called me and wanted to talk last time I talked to Putin was trying to get him to we're on an arms control agreement relating to nuclear weapons in space that didn't go very far so my point is I'm prepared to talk to anybody but I don't see any inclination there is an inclination on the part of the Chinese to keep in contact with me because they're not sure where this all goes and look what's happened in Asia we have strengthened the Asian Pacific area more than anyone else has we you know we just put together with today we we had we I brought on I asked our NATO allies that we bring on the group from the South Pacific Australia New Zealand Japan Australia I already mentioned Australia and I met twice now I think with the 14 leaders of the Pacific island nations and we've slowed down what's going on there we slow down China's reach but there's a lot of work to do this is a moving Target and I don't take it lightly um s from NPR thank you Mr President Asma khed with NPR uh I have two questions earlier you spoke about the ceasefire plan between Israel and Hamas uh we're now looking at 10 months of war and I'm curious if there's anything that you feel personally you wish you would have done differently over the course of of the War uh and then secondly if I may I wanted to ask you about your uh presidential campaign I remember covering your campaign in 2020 and there was a moment where you referred to yourself as a quote Bridge candidacy a transition to a younger generation of leaders uh I want to understand what changed two things let's let's go back to when you talked about would I have changed anything that's happening with Israel and and the Palestinians and the Palestinian movement the answer is as you recall from the very beginning I immediately I went to Israel but I also got immediate contact of aisi in Egypt I met with the King of Jordan I met with I met with most of the Arab leaders to try to get a consensus going as to what had to be done to deal with getting more Aid and food and Medicine into into the Gaza Strip and we pushed it really hard and Israel occasionally was less than Cooperative number one the Israeli War cabinet I've been I've been dealing with Israel since gold of May year some some of the reporters around here coming all the time I've heard me say this the last first time I met with golden a I sat across from her on her desk and her assistant was rabine sitting next to me that's how far back I go I know Israel well and I support Israel but this war cabinet is one of the most conservative War cabinets in the history of of Israel and there's no ultimate answer other than a two-state solution here and so what was able to be done in terms of the organ the the plan I put together was it would be a process for two-state solution and we get the Arab Nations to particularly from Egypt to all the way to Saudi Arabia to be in a position where they would cooperate in the transition so that they could keep the peace in Gaza without without Israeli forces staying in Gaza the question has been from the beginning what's the day after in Gaza and the day after in Gaza has to be the and the end of the day after there has to be no occupation by Israel on the Gaza Strip as well as the ability for us to access get in and out as rapidly as you can all that's needed there I've been disappointed that some of the things that I've put forward have not succeeded as well like the port we attached from Cypress I was hopeful that would be more successful but that's why I when I went to Israel immediately after the massacres that occurred as hands of Hamas that I the one thing I said to the Israelis and I met with the war cabinet and with BB don't make the same mistake America made after bin Laden there's no need to occupy anywhere go after the people who did the job you may recall I get still get criticized for it but I was totally opposed to the occupation and trying to unite Afghanistan once we got once once we got Bin Laden we should have moved on because it was not in our no one's ever going to unit unite that country I've been over every inch of that not every inch the entirety from the poppy fields all the way to the north I said don't make the same mistake we made don't think that's what you should be doing is doubling down we'll help you find the bad guys sin waren company and I and all this criticism about I wouldn't provide when the the weapons they needed I I'm not providing them 2,000lb bombs they cannot be used in Gaza or any populated area without causing great human tragedy and damage but we're remember what happened when when you had the attack on Israel from with rockets and in and ballistic missiles I I was able to unite the Arab Nations as well as as well as Europe and nothing happened nothing got hurt it s it sent an incredible lesson to what was going on from the Middle East so there's a lot of things in retrospect I wish I had been able to convince the Israelis to do but the bottom line is we have a chance now it's time to end this war doesn't mean walk away from going after senoir and Hamas and if you notice you know better than most there is a growing dissatisfaction in on the West Bank from the Palestinians about Hamas Hamas is not popular now and so there's a lot of moving Parts I just have to keep make moving to make sure that we get as much done as we can sort of ceasefire a ceasefire and get those and by the way look look at the numbers and in Israel I mean I I I I my numbers are better in Israel than they are here but then again they're better in a lot of other people here too but anyway um question your Bridge candidacy in 2020 you referred to yourself as being a a bridge candidate for a younger fresher generation of democratic leaders and I wanted to know what changed what changed was the gravity of the situation I inherited in terms of the economy our foreign policy and domestic Division and I think I I won't put words in anybody's mouth most presidential historians give me credit for having accomplished more than most any president since Johnson and maybe before that to get major pieces of legislation passed and what I realized was my long time in the senate had equipped me to have the wisdom to know how to deal with the Congress to get things done we got more major legislation pass that no one thought would happen and I want to finish it to get that finished if tomorrow if if you if we had a circumstance where there was a line up and I didn't had an inherit what I did and we just moved things along anyway it's it's going to change last question uh Haley bull scripts or no Josh W grve I'm sorry was the next one I'll do two more questions thank you Mr President uh many of your colleagues Democrats in the hill are watching tonight as they assess what they want to say about your C candidacy I'm wondering how you're thinking of this right now it seems like your answer is clear uh but they're watching how things go tonight tomorrow in Michigan next week in Texas and Nevada are you thinking that way about whether how the next week or two goes would inform your am I using that way you said are you thinking that way about how the next two weeks go will that affect your decision or are you fully determined on running uh in November as the party's nominee I'm determined on running but but I think it's important that I real I lay fears by seeing let them see me out there let me see them you know for the longest time it was you know Biden's not prepared to sit with us unscripted Biden's not prepared to you know anyway and so what I'm doing is and I've been doing I think we've done over 20 major events from Wisconsin to North Carolina anyway to demonstrate that I'm going out in the areas where think we can win or we can persuade people to move our way or people already there and here look the other thing is we have the most extensive campaign organization of anybody's had in a long long time we have well over a thousand volunteers knocking on doors making phone calls making tens of thousands of phone calls we have headquarters I forget exactly how many I want to cite a number and then find out I'm off but we have scores of headquarters and all in all the the the toss-up states were organized we moving and I that's awful hard to replace in the near term and so and here's the other thing I was in Senate a long time very proud of what I've done in the Senate I was chairman of the Foreign Relations Committee for a long time and I was chairman a ranking member and chairman of the Judiciary Committee I'm going to be going down to the Johnson Library on to anyway I'm going to be going around making the case of the things that I think we have to finish and how we can't afford to lose what we've done or backslide on civil rights civil liberties women's rights there that little button we have control guns not girls I mean the idea we're sitting around this where comml is so good as well we're sitting around more children are killed by a bullet than any other cause of death the United States of America what the hell are we doing what are we doing we got a candidate sent promised don't worry I'm not going to do anything I'm not going to do anything you got a supreme court that is what you might call the most conservative Court in American history this is ridiculous there's so much we can do still and I'm determined to get it done it's about freedom and by the way I'll end this like well I'm not going to do that Haley as has to come up too but the I remember I made the speech on Democracy in Philadelphia in Independence Hall and I'm not being critical just observing the bulk of the press what the hell is he talking about that for democ he did democracy is not an issue democracy is not an issue except the polling data showed 60% of the people knew I was right thought I was right I'm not asking you a question you don't have to answer obviously but do you think our democracy is under siege based on this court do you think democracy under Seas based on Project 2025 do you think he means what he says when he says he's going to do away with the Civil Service eliminate Department of Education make sure I mean there's we've never been here before and that's the other reason why I didn't you say hand off to another generation I've got to finish this job I've got to finish this job because there's so much at stake we had some discussions over the past few days with your press secretary about the question of Health exams and you said you take a cognitive test every day in this job are you open to taking another physical or test before the election Governor Whitmer of for instance said it wouldn't hurt to take a test well look two things one I've taken three significant and intense neurological exams by the neur by neuros a neurologist in each case is recing this February and they say I'm in good shape okay although I do have a little problem with my left foot because it's not as sensitive because I broke my fo and didn't wear the boot but but but I'm I'm good I'm tested every single day about my neurological capacity to the decisions I make every day you talk to my staff all of you talk to my staff sometimes my staff talks a lot but the fact of the matter is I don't think you have them telling you that all the major ideas we've undertaken haven't been in part initiated by me I remember when the staff and I said I'm going to go to South Korea where we going to get the chip what are you doing I'm going to get Japan and Korea back together again after not essentially having hostilities toward one another since the end of World War II I'm going to move and see that we can expand you know the only thing age does is help you with it creates a little bit of wisdom if you pay attention and so the point I'm making is I think it's important that I if if my if the neurologist tells me he thinks I need another exam by the way I've I've laid every bit of the record out had hidden the thing you ought to ask Trump for his okay I've I laid it all out and every single day I'm surrounded by good docks if they think there's a problem I promise you or even if they don't don't think it's a problem they think I should have a neurological exam again I'll do it but no one's suggesting that to me now and I'll ask you another question no matter what I did no one's going to be satisfied did you have seven Ducks did you have two who' you have did you do this how many times did you so I am not opposed if my doctors tell me they should I should have another neurological exam I'll do it but that's where I am uh haly bull scripts thank you Mr President uh you said you're making decisions on a day-to-day basis when it comes to support for Ukraine does that mean you have not closed the door on further considering lifting restrictions for us-made weapons inside Russia and if I may your convention is coming up where your delegates are pledged to make you the official nominee if they have second thoughts are they free to vote their conscience obviously they're free to do whatever they want but I gu overwhelming support overwhelming support I won how I forget how many votes I won in the primary overwhelming and so tomorrow if all of a sudden I show up at the convention everybody says we want somebody else that's a democratic process it's not going to happen even if that means they vote for someone else sure look I'll end this with this I served in the Senate a long time I understand the impetus of candidates running for local office and whether they think the top ofic can help them or not in my state of Delaware which was a very at least a purple it was a red State when I started in terms of we now talk red and blue um I uh I don't recall most of the democratic presidents winning my state when I was a candidate the truth of the matter is I understand the self-interest of a candidate if they think that you know running with Biden the top is going to hurt them then they're going to run away I get it but so far go and look at the polling data in their states look at the inp and by the way I think you'd all acknowledge and you're all experts I'm not being solicitous about the president you're experts on this stuff how accurate does anybody think the polls are these days I can give you a series of polls where you have likely voters be versus Trump where I win all the time when the UN the unlikely voters vote he wins sometimes the bottom line is all the polling data right now which I think is premature because the campaign really hasn't even started I mean Ian it hadn't started in Earnest yet most of the time it doesn't start till after September after Labor Day so a lot can happen but I think I'm the best qual I know I believe I'm the best qualified to govern and I think I'm the best qualified to win but there are other people who could be Trump too but it's awful start start start from scratch and you know we talk about you know money raised we're not doing bad we got about $220 million in the bank we're doing well so with that you have any want to follow up on any of that you just ask me yes um you earlier explained confidence in your vice president yes if your team came back and showed you data that she would Faire better against former president Donald Trump would you reconsider your decision to stay in the race no once they came back and said there's no way you can win me no one's saying that no Paul says that this tonight press conference thanks everybody this this this concludes respectfully earlier you misspoke in your opening answer you referred to vice president Harris as vice president Trump right now Donald Trump is using that to mock your age and your memory how do you combat that criticism from tonight listen to him this concludes tonight's press conference thank you everybody thanks everyone