Sen. John Fetterman (D-Pennsylvania) said Wednesday that he only watched part of last month’s debate between former Presidents Trump and Biden but believes the incumbent president has “the best opportunity” to beat the former president.
Fox News host Jesse Watters spoke with Fetterman, asking the senator, “You watched the debate, like we all watched the debate. Has that changed your mind?”
“I saw some of it. In fact, I was on my way back from Israel at the time,” Fetterman responded. “And I landed and started getting some text messages. And at that point, I felt compelled to use social media to defend the president after that.”
When Watters asked again if he watched the entire debate, Fetterman replied, “I didn’t. I only watched … maybe the hardest debate.”
“But I recognize, and I think a lot of people who watch Fox recognize that Donald Trump may have had a great day and had a great debate about it,” Fetterman said. “But I want to remind people, some people think that Donald Trump hasn’t had the challenges that Joe Biden has had. [had]But I think he said things that weren’t true, or that didn’t really line up with some of the values of the majority of people.”
Biden’s performance in last month’s debate with Trump raised concerns within Democrats about Biden’s ability to defeat the former president and serve another term in office.
Fetterman has been a vocal defender of the president throughout the turmoil, telling CNN just before his interview with Watters that he strongly disagreed with Sen. Peter Welch, D-N.Y., who became the first Senate Democrat to publicly call on Biden to drop out of the presidential race.
Nine House Democrats, including Reps. Lloyd Doggett (Texas), Raul Grijalva (Arizona), Seth Moulton (Massachusetts), Mike Quigley (Illinois), Angie Craig (Minn.), Mickey Sherrill (New Jersey), Adam Smith (Washington), Pat Ryan (New York) and Earl Blumenauer (Oregon), have publicly called on Biden to opt out of the 2024 presidential race.
Senate Democrats met privately on Capitol Hill on Tuesday to express doubts about whether Biden could beat Trump. Several senators emerged from Tuesday’s meeting saying the debate was all but settled for now, with Biden signaling his determination to remain at the top of the shortlist.
Biden has rejected calls to withdraw and insisted he will continue to campaign, and in a letter sent on Monday he called on Democratic lawmakers to support his candidacy.
Fetterman cited his own experience with Biden, saying he was “normal” and “aggressive” during the past year on the campaign trail.
“So I want to remind everybody that Joe Biden has done a really good job as president, and I’m going to fundamentally stay true to that,” he said.
Three of Biden’s top political advisers are scheduled to meet with Senate Democrats on Thursday to hear their concerns about Biden’s viability as a nominee.
