Viral clip shows CNN's John Berman cringing over Biden’s remark on late exit from 2024 presidential race
WASHINGTON, DC: CNN’s John Berman made an on-air apology Wednesday, May 7, after reacting visibly to a remark from former President Joe Biden during a BBC interview.
The moment came when Berman cringed on camera following Biden’s response about the timing of his withdrawal from the 2024 presidential race.
John Berman apologizes for his reaction to Joe Biden's comment
The incident happened as John Berman led into a clip of Joe Biden addressing whether stepping aside earlier would have helped former Vice President Kamala Harris secure a win.
In the segment, Berman said, “[Biden] was asked a question that I think I know Democrats don't want to relive right now, which is should he have dropped out of the race sooner.”
The question from BBC’s Nick Robinson was direct, “Mr President, did you leave it too late? Should you have withdrawn earlier? Given someone else a bigger chance?” Robinson asked Biden.
“I don’t think it would have mattered,” Biden replied, suggesting that Harris’ path to victory may have been blocked regardless of when he left the race.
The camera then cut back to Berman, who was caught grimacing at the response.
“Um, sorry,” Berman said. “I shouldn’t have had that face there.” He added, “I mean, it may be the way he answered that question?” before turning to political commentator Alyssa Farah Griffin, as HuffPost noted.
Alyssa Farah Griffin says Joe Biden’s timing affected Kamala Harris' winning chances
Alyssa Farah Griffin, a co-host on 'The View' and former Trump communications director, didn’t acknowledge John Berman’s reaction but shifted straight into analysis of Joe Biden’s impact on the campaign.
“Listen, Kamala Harris had a 90-day stretch to run, by the way, at a time when... only 28 percent of Americans thought that the country was on the right track,” said Griffin.
“You could be the greatest political candidate of all time, which the former vice president was not, and you‘re not going to be able to overcome that way that you‘re just carried down by the Biden administration,” Griffin added.
Joe Biden says exiting early would've been the 'right decision'
Joe Biden had remained in the race until his June debate against Donald Trump, which led to a series of calls for him to step down. His decision to leave came late in the campaign, and Harris lost to Trump in the general election.
Despite criticism over the timing of his exit, Biden defended his decision in the interview.
“What we had set out to do, no one thought we could do,” Biden said. “And we had become so successful in our agenda, it was hard to say, ‘No, I’m going to stop now’... It was a hard decision.”
When asked if he regretted not stepping aside earlier, Biden didn’t express any.
“No, I think it was the right decision,” he said. “I think that… Well, it was just a difficult decision," as per The Daily Beast.
