Biden says he's 'passing the torch' to defend democracy in speech from Oval Office
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00:00U.S. President Joe Biden addressed the nation days after he made the historic decision to
00:04pull out of the race.
00:05The 81-year-old defended his record and said it merited a second term in office.
00:10He once again reiterated his endorsement for his vice president.
00:14Biden called Kamala Harris' experience tough and capable.
00:18I've made it clear that I believe America is at an inflection point.
00:24One of those rare moments in history when the decisions we make now determine our fate
00:29of our nation and the world for decades to come.
00:33The great thing about America is here, kings and dictators do not rule, the people do.
00:41History is in your hands.
00:44We can now bring in Ketivan Gojjestani, a former White House correspondent and international
00:48affairs editor.
00:49Ketivan, what were some of the main takeaways from Biden's speech?
00:52Well, the main message was one that we've heard Joe Biden say over the past three and
00:58a half years, which is that this is about the future of American democracy, that democracy
01:04is at stake.
01:06He talked about passing the torch.
01:08And so he's basically a little bit later than some might have hoped, but actually doing
01:14good on the promise he made when he first came into the White House, where he had said
01:19that he would be the bridge to a new generation.
01:23He also used this as an opportunity to tout his accomplishments, saying that on his record
01:29alone, he deserved to be reelected, but that at the time that the U.S. was in, just made
01:38it in the way that he felt that it was better for the nation that he would step aside.
01:44He obviously stayed away from making any comments, basically referring to the reasons that led
01:51him to make that decision to step aside.
01:54The only hint to questions about his age and his fitness were when he said that the country
02:02needed new voices, quote, yes, younger voices.
02:07But he also used the speech to indirectly attack Donald Trump.
02:10He never mentioned him by name, but we heard in that soundbite that you just played when
02:15he says the great thing about America is that here kings and dictators do not rule.
02:21That is an obvious reference to what Donald Trump has said, saying that he would be a
02:25dictator on day one.
02:28So attacking the former president and praising his vice president, Kamala Harris, calling
02:33her experienced, tough, capable.
02:37Of course, he's endorsed her.
02:38He wants her to win.
02:39But he also knows that his legacy is riding on her success.
02:43If she wins, this will really cement his legacy and he will be remembered as this man that
02:50stepped aside to allow the Democrats to win.
02:53If she loses, he will be blamed for not having stepped away earlier and he will be blamed
02:59for having Donald Trump return to the White House.
03:01Ketivan, stay with us, because Donald Trump held his first campaign rally since his Democratic
03:06rival Joe Biden dropped out of the race.
03:08The Republican candidate for the presidency wasted no time attacking Kamala Harris, labeling
03:13the vice president, who was a former prosecutor, a liar.
03:16He even repeated falsehoods, saying the pro-abortion candidate wants to approve the procedure after
03:21the eighth month of pregnancy.
03:23Ketivan, I'm not going to ask about the lies, which Trump tends to tell.
03:28But he spent all these months now preparing to take on Joe Biden.
03:33How is he doing in switching gears to taking on Kamala Harris?
03:37Well, he's trying to go full force on the attack.
03:40Obviously, his strategy was to say Joe Biden is old, Joe Biden is weak.
03:45I'm the young, energetic one.
03:47That doesn't work when you have Kamala Harris, who's much younger, much more energetic.
03:52So he went on the personal attack, calling her a radical left-wing lunatic, calling her
03:58a liar, calling her crazy, attacking her on abortion, which is really odd because Donald
04:04Trump has been trying to stay away from the topic of abortion because he knows that it's
04:09very dangerous for the Republicans, whereas Kamala Harris absolutely wants him to talk
04:15about abortion.
04:16And she does that any chance she gets.
04:19And as you said, she was a former prosecutor and she's also using that against Donald Trump.
04:26She's framing this campaign as the prosecutor versus the felon.
04:30She said, I know Donald Trump, Donald Trump's type.
04:34She compared him to the criminals that she's prosecuted in the past, talking about predators,
04:40fraudsters, cheaters.
04:42So she's also going on the offense against Donald Trump.
04:46So really a totally different campaign.
04:49But the fact that Kamala Harris is now the very likely nominee for the Democrats has
04:55really energized the Democrats, brought a really a surge in enthusiasm.
05:00If you look at the money raised by the Kamala Harris campaign since Sunday, $125 million
05:08at least.
05:09And among those, about 60 percent of people are first-time donors, meaning that they gave
05:15money to Kamala Harris and they hadn't done so until now.
05:20So it really shows that that could be a big boost for the Harris campaign.
05:24And of course, there's going to be a lot of spotlight on Kamala Harris in the coming weeks
05:28because everyone wants to know who will be her running mate, who will be the vice president
05:34on the ticket.
05:35There are about half a dozen names being floated around, but there are really four that are
05:40popping out.
05:41There are three governors, Andy Beshear of Kentucky, Josh Shapiro of Pennsylvania and
05:46Roy Cooper of North Carolina, along with Senator Mark Kelly of Arizona.
05:52Of the four states that I just mentioned, three of them are swing states and all of
05:57these are white men who are politically moderate.
06:01So really, Kamala Harris is looking for her own Joe Biden, except a little bit younger.