Former Vice President Joe Biden said in an interview published Tuesday that he will not run for president in 2020 — then quickly said he was “kidding” and hasn’t made up his mind.
“It makes me feel guilty about not wanting to [run for president],” Biden told Josh Rogin of the Washington Post during a wide-ranging interview on U.S.-EU relations under the Trump administration. “But it doesn’t make me want to. I’m not looking to live in the White House, I’ve seen it up close.”
“But all kidding aside, I don’t know what I’m going to do,” the 75-year-old added.
Recent polls show Biden would have a real shot at winning the Democratic primary, with one poll placing him at 26 percent to 18 percent against Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT). Additionally, strong polling numbers show some potential voters appear to favor the 75-year-old over other, younger candidates.
“A fresh face is important, but Democrats need three things: someone to win the White House, someone who can elevate the rest of the ticket and a candidate who understands and appreciates governance where this president has shown disdain for it,” New York Democratic Party official Basil Smikle told The Hill. “Biden fits that bill.”
Biden, who would be the oldest candidate ever elected president, flirted with a 2016 bid and ultimately passed on the opportunity to take on Donald Trump.
During a March 2017 event at Colgate University, Biden said he was “fairly confident” he could have beaten Trump in the general election.
“I had planned on running for president and although it would have been a very difficult primary, I think I could have won,” he told attendees. “I don’t know, maybe not. But I thought I could have won.
“I had a lot of data and I was fairly confident that if I were the Democratic Party’s nominee, I had a better than even chance of being president,” he added. “But do I regret not being president? Yes. I was the best qualified.”
If Biden decides to run for president, he would have to answer for explosive allegations detailed in best-selling author Peter Schweizer’s book Secret Empires.
The Clinton Cash author uncovered how Biden may have played a role in securing his son a $1.5 billion deal with a Chinese-based investment firm linked to a company indicted for “nuclear power conspiracy against the United States.”
”The FBI arrests and charges senior officials in this company with stealing nuclear secrets in the United States. Specifically, they’re trying to get access to something called the AP-1000 nuclear reactor that is very similar to the ones that we put on U.S. submarines, Schweizer writes. “So again, you have the son of the vice president, a close aide to the secretary of state who are investing in a company that is trying to steal nuclear secrets in the United States. It’s a stunning story, and here’s the thing: none of this is required to be disclosed because they’ve figured out a way to get around these disclosure laws.”