Joe Biden says he could defeat Donald Trump

US President Joe Biden has said he thinks he will defeat Donald Trump and win re-election in November.

Speaking to USA TODAY an exclusive interviewHowever, Biden also said he was unsure whether he would have the stamina for another four-year term.

“So far, so good,” the 82-year-old man said. “But who knows what I’ll be when I’m 86?”

In the wide-ranging interview with Susan Page, Biden also said he was still considering pre-emptive pardons for Donald Trump’s enemies, including former Republican Congresswoman Liz Cheney and former senior health official Dr. Anthony Fauci .

In the interview published Wednesday, Biden said he was “very direct with Trump” about a possible pardon during an Oval Office meeting shortly after the November election.

Biden said, “I tried to make clear that there was no need for that, and it was in their interest to go back and try to settle scores.” He said Trump did not back down, but “just basically listened”.

Biden said his final decision would depend on who Trump selects for his Cabinet.

At the same meeting, Biden said Trump was “complimentary” about his economic record.

“He (Trump) thought I was leaving with a good record,” the Democrat said.

The interview with USA Today is the only exit interview Biden has ever given to a print publication.

Media access to Biden has been tightly controlled by the White House — and the president has not held a news conference since dropping out of the race on July 21.

The outgoing president also defended in the interview He issued a full and unconditional pardon to his son, Hunter Biden, Joe was facing sentencing for two criminal cases – tax evasion and illegally purchasing a gun – despite repeatedly insisting he would not do so.

Biden, who first came to Capitol Hill as a US senator in 1972, has drawn criticism from his own party over his apparent reluctance to drop out of the presidential race amid concerns over his age and mental acuity.

Speaking to USA TODAY, Biden said that “based on the polling” he believed he would win, but acknowledged that his age may have affected him in office.

Biden said, “When Trump was running for re-election, I really thought I had the best chance to defeat him. But when I was 85, 86 years old, I was also thinking about becoming president. Wasn’t.” “But I don’t know. Who knows?”

Following Vice President Kamala Harris’s defeat to Trump, high-ranking members of the Democratic Party, such as former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, have said that Democrats If Biden had dropped out of the race sooner, his performance in the elections might have been better.,