Joe Biden rejects Chris Wallace interview after Trump calls him ‘incompetent’
Presumptive Democratic nominee Joe Biden rejected “Fox News Sunday” anchor Chris Wallace’s request for an interview, fanning the flames of criticism that the former vice president is afraid to face questioning
“In our interview last week with President Trump, he questioned whether his Democratic opponent, Joe Biden, could handle a similar encounter. This week, we asked the Biden campaign for an interview and they said the former vice president was not available,” Wallace said on his show Sunday.
“We’ll keep asking every week,” he added.
The statement by Wallace came one week after Trump’s wide-ranging interview on his program, during which the commander-in-chief questioned whether the former vice president would be able to handle such hard-hitting questions.
The president told the Fox News host that Biden would be “crying for mommy” if forced to answer the same kinds of questions from Wallace.
“Let Biden sit through an interview like this, he’ll be on the ground crying for mommy. He’ll say ‘Mommy, mommy, please take me home,’” the president said.
“Well, we’ve asked him for an interview, sir,” Wallace replied.
“He can’t do an interview. He’s incompetent,” Trump said in response.
Immediately after that interview, Biden’s deputy campaign manager Kate Bedingfield released a statement addressing claims made during the hour-long sitdown.
“For over a year, Donald Trump and his campaign have cycled through the same self-defeating attacks against Joe Biden and have failed to get traction on a single one.
“President Trump gave it yet another go on ‘Fox News Sunday’ this morning. He lurched from smear to smear, all while being forcefully corrected on most, including the lie that Joe Biden wouldn’t keep the American people safe and supports defunding the police — which has been fact-checked into oblivion over the last month,” Bedingfield said.
She neglected, however, to address the issue of Biden making his own appearance on the program.
One day after his interview with Trump, Wallace told fellow Fox News host Bret Baier that he believed Biden should put himself up to the same scrutiny and sit down for an interview.
“The fact is, the president is out there. He’s out there in this broiling heat with me for an hour, took all the questions,” he said in an appearance on Baier’s program last Monday, “You can like his answers or dislike them, but he had answers, and Joe Biden hasn’t faced that kind of scrutiny, hasn’t faced that kind of exposure.”
“You’ve got to feel at some point he’s going to come out from the basement. He’s going to have to be more exposed and take questions just as tough as the ones I asked this president.”
A spokesperson for the Biden campaign did not respond to The Post’s request for comment.
Biden has faced criticism in recent months from President Trump and others of avoiding media scrutiny by making fewer appearances and when appearing not taking questions.
The former vice president made headlines back in May for his “you ain’t black” comment on “The Breakfast Club,” a radio program hosted by prominent African American influencer Charlamagne tha God.
The interview itself, however, took nearly a year to book, according to the New York Times.
A few months after Biden entered the 2020 Democratic primary, the radio show’s executive producer said that he and hosts were in talks with the former VP to join them on the program.
By the end of the summer, according to the paper, it became clear that Biden would not be appearing.
“They offered to have a black surrogate on the show,” Charlamagne, whose real name is Lenard Larry McKelvey, told the paper in an interview earlier this year.
Charlamagne said Biden’s refusal to appear on the show concerned him, as it appeared that black voters weren’t a priority to him.
To make matters worse, almost every other Democratic primary hopeful had appeared on the show by the spring of 2019.
Biden finally spoke to Charlamagne in an 18-minute video appearance where he was challenged on the possibility of a black female running mate, something the radio personality has argued for, and his 1994 crime bill.
Toward the end of the discussion, an aide interrupted the interview, saying, “Thank you so much. That’s really our time. I apologize.”
“You can’t do that to black media!” Charlamagne replied.
“I do that to white media and black media because my wife has to go on at 6 o’clock,” Biden, 77, snapped back, apparently referring to a planned media appearance by Jill Biden.
“Listen, you’ve got to come see us when you come to New York, VP Biden,” Charlamagne, 41, said. “It’s a long way until November. We’ve got more questions.”
“You’ve got more questions?” Biden responded. “Well, I tell you what, if you have a problem figuring out whether you’re for me or Trump, then you ain’t black.”
Biden later apologized for those remarks, though another interview with “The Breakfast Club” is not yet scheduled.