Biden Snaps At Lester Holt Multiple Times During NBC News Interview

In an interview on Monday with NBC News‘s Lester Holt, President Joe Biden repeatedly snapped at the journalist.

He became defensive when questioned about his poor debate performance last month, reacted sharply to inquiries about former President Donald Trump‘s running mate, Sen. JD Vance (R-Ohio), and defended his criticism of Trump, despite urging Americans to “lower the temperature” on political rhetoric following Saturday’s assassination attempt on Trump.

Regarding his debate performance, Holt asked the president, “Are you seeing what [viewers] saw, which was moments of frankly, that appeared to be – you appeared to be confused?”

Biden replied, “Lester, look, why don’t you guys ever talk about the 18, 28 lies (Trump) told? Where are you on this? Why didn’t the press ever talk about that? Twenty-eight times it’s confirmed he lied in that debate.”

When Holt protested, “We have reported many of the issues,” Biden snapped back.

“No you haven’t! No you haven’t! God love you,” retorted Biden, who had falsely claimed during the debate that no troops died on his watch and confusingly stated he “finally beat Medicare.”

Biden grew flustered again when Holt asked him whether he would agree to an additional debate with Trump to prove his mental sharpness, beyond the second and final debate scheduled for Sept. 10.

“Is there a sense of wanting to get back on the horse?” asked Holt.

“I’m on the horse, where have you been?” fumed Biden. “I’ve done 22 major events…I’m on the horse, what I’m doing is going out and demonstrating to the American people that I’m in command of all my faculties.”

Later in the interview, Biden brought up Vance’s past criticisms of Trump, saying to Holt, “If you go back and listen to the things JD Vance said about Trump…”, referring to a 2016 comment where Vance wrote, “I go back and forth between thinking Trump is a cynical a–hole like Nixon who wouldn’t be that bad (and might even prove useful) or that he’s America’s Hitler.”

“Well, he said something about you,” replied Holt.

“He said some bad things about me, but see what he said about Trump,” said Biden. “What’s with you guys? Come on, man.”

Biden also mentioned that he wasn’t surprised that Trump picked Vance as his running mate.

“It’s not unusual. He’s going to surround himself with people who agree completely with him, whose voting record supported him,” said Biden, before later dismissing Vance to reporters as “a clone of Trump on the issues.”

When questioned about his strong rhetoric before Trump’s assassination attempt, which drew criticism from many Republicans, Biden defended a comment he made a week prior, suggesting Democrats should put Donald Trump in a “bullseye.”

“It was a mistake to use the wor– I didn’t say crosshairs, I meant bull’s-eye, I meant focus on him, focus on what he’s doing, focus on his policies, focus on the number of lies he told in the debate,” said Biden.

As Biden continued to criticize the former president, Holt challenged him, noting that Biden had used an Oval Office address Sunday night to urge Americans to “lower the temperature” following Trump’s shooting.

“This doesn’t sound like you’re turning down the heat, though,” questioned Holt.

“Well, no, no, no, no,” replied Biden, before launching into another extensive critique of Trump.

Biden concluded the interview with a final remark, saying, “Sometimes come and talk to me about what we should be talking about. Okay?”

“Always happy to talk,” replied Holt.