ABC News journalist George Stephanopoulos said he regrets talking to a passerby and appearing to say that he doesn’t think President Joe Biden can serve another four years.
TMZ posted video of the encounter, which it said was on a Manhattan street, in which Stephanopoulos was asked, “Do you think Biden should step down?”
Stephanopoulos appears to say, “I don’t think he can serve four more years,” though the audio of the response is a little difficult to hear.
The remark comes days after Stephanopoulos interviewed Biden in the president’s first televised interview since a rough debate performance raised questions about his health and the viability of his re-election campaign.
“Earlier today I responded to a passerby. I shouldn’t have,” Stephanopoulos said Tuesday night in a statement released by ABC News spokesman Brooks Lancaster.
In a separate statement, ABC News said that, “George expressed his own point of view and not the position of ABC News.”
Stephanopoulos interviewed Biden on Friday, about a week after the president gave a debate performance that shocked and panicked some Democrats, who began raising questions about Biden’s ability to win the election in November or serve another term.
Biden has refused calls to step aside. On Monday, he repeated that he will stay in the race and said that he believes he is the best person to beat former president Donald Trump in November.
Kate Snow and Josh Cradduck contributed.
