Politicians and pundits have long questioned whether Mr Biden has the stamina to last another four years in the White House, and those concerns were evident in his rambling and sometimes interrupted speech during the June 27 debate.
In a pre-recorded interview broadcast on Sunday, Mr. Biden made several misspoken remarks but generally seemed more coherent than in a live televised debate. He attributed his poor debate performance to illness, which he had previously cited as a factor jet lag and lack of rest.
As pressure mounted, he announced on July 21 that he would withdraw from the race.
A potential race to replace him for the Democratic nomination never materialized, and the party’s support quickly rallied around Vice President Harris, who has so far been outperforming Mr Biden in opinion polls.
In the CBS interview, Mr. Biden went back to the moment when he decided to run against Mr. Trump, after the deadly 2017 gathering of far-right activists in Charlottesville, Virginia. He accused Trump of emboldening racists and the far right.
“Whenever the Ku Klux Klan got involved, they wore hoods so they wouldn't be identified,” he said. “During his presidency, they came out of the woods without hoods, and you knew you had allies.”
He also reiterated his concerns about what would happen after the November election, saying he was “not at all confident” there would be a peaceful transfer of power if Ms. Harris beats Mr. Trump.
He expressed concern that violence could erupt if Trump loses the election.
“He means what he says,” Mr. Biden said. “We don’t take him seriously. He means it. All that talk about, ‘If we lose, there’s going to be a bloodbath.’”
“He is a real danger to American security,” Biden said.
Trump said at a March rally that if he lost, “there would be bloodshed in the country,” but his campaign has repeatedly said he was referring to the economy and the auto industry and that Democrats have taken the remark out of context.
At the same time, the former president has repeatedly claimed, without evidence, that he was cheated out of the 2020 election and has warned that there will be attempts to “rig” the vote this year. He has pledged to pardon some or all of those convicted of inciting the riot at the U.S. Capitol in January 2021.
Mr. Biden said he would campaign on behalf of Ms. Harris and had spoken with Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro about touring the state. Mr. Biden was born in Scranton, a working-class city about 120 miles (190 kilometers) northwest of New York City.
“I will be campaigning in other states, and I will be doing whatever Kamala thinks I can do to be most helpful,” he said.
