For his first live, on-air interview since leaving the White House in January, Joe Biden fielded questions from all six The View panelists — Whoopi Goldberg, Sara Haines, Ana Navarro, Joy Behar, Sunny Hostin, and Alyssa Farah Griffin — on Thursday (May 8). While much of the conversation was very, very serious, he earned at least one bit of uproarious laughter from the studio audience with an impromptu joke about Donald Trump.
Joy Behar asked the 46th president about Trump’s assertion that because he used an autopen to sign his final series of pardons, which included preemptive pardons for members of his family to preempt any politically motivated prosecutions from Trump’s administration, they should be considered “void and vacant.” To that, Biden quickly said, “Oh, he’s vacant,” earning thunderous laughter from the crowd.
Elsewhere in the sitdown, Biden spoke up about the 2024 presidential election, revealing that he blames sexism for Trump’s win over then-Vice President Kamala Harris and saying that he still believes he would’ve beaten Trump despite agreeing he had a “terrible night” during their debate. He also revealed that he was writing another book, his presidential memoir, and that he and Harris still keep in touch.
Former Pres. Biden tells #TheView he “wasn’t surprised” by Pres. Trump’s win in 2024: “[Kamala Harris is] qualified to be president of the United States of America, but I wasn’t surprised because they went… the sexist route.” pic.twitter.com/GrtA9iZhP0
— The View (@TheView) May 8, 2025
Former Pres. Biden when asked on #TheView if he thinks he would have beaten Pres. Trump in the 2024 election: “Yeah, he still got 7 million fewer votes. A lot of people didn’t show up.” pic.twitter.com/gqGmWqKHDf
— The View (@TheView) May 8, 2025
Former Pres. Biden tells #TheView he takes responsibility for Pres. Trump’s 2024 win: “I do, because, look, I was in charge and he won.” pic.twitter.com/zggCdVEOsq
— The View (@TheView) May 8, 2025
In fact, he said Harris has been consulting with him about her reported consideration over whether to run for governor of California: “I talk to her frequently. We stay in touch. Number one, she sought my opinion. I’m not going to tell you what it is. All kidding aside, she’s got a difficult decision to make about what she’s going to do. I hope she stays fully engaged. I think she’s first-rate, but we have a lot of really good candidates as well. So I’m optimistic. I’m not pessimistic,” he explained. He also praised her for being a part of every decision he ever made in office. “We’d argue like hell, by the way. That’s good. She’d say ‘Well, what about this version?’ [I’d say] ‘No, I don’t like that.’ Anyway, we worked it out. It was a mutual thing.”
He also offered his critiques of Trump’s first 100 days in office, saying, “You guys don’t focus on as much — and I think it’s good — on polling numbers, but thanks for this way he’s had the worst 100 days any president’s ever had. And I would not say honesty has been a strong point.”
When asked by Behar why Trump is “obsessed” with him to the point that he’s namechecking Biden dozens of times at his own cabinet meetings, Biden said simply, “I beat him.”
Former Pres. Biden to #TheView when asked why he is so frequently mentioned by Pres. Trump: “I beat him.”
“I’m used to dealing with bullies,” he adds. pic.twitter.com/0bQlCfQrMd
— The View (@TheView) May 8, 2025
The View, Weekdays, 11 a.m. ET, ABC