Biden Takes Responsibility For Trump's Victory: 'i Was In Charge And He Won'

Former President Joe Biden said he takes “responsibility” for Donald Trump’s return to the White House and accused his successor of failing to protect the interests of the country.

Sitting for his first live television interview since leaving office, Biden was asked on “The View” if he felt responsible for Trump’s victory.

“Yes, I do, because, look, I was in charge and he won, so I take responsibility,” Biden said, responding to a question that probed his approval ratings falling and voter concerns over border security and inflation.

Offering an assessment of Trump's return to power, Biden said his successor “has done, quite frankly, a very poor job in the interest of the United States of America.”

“I think, you know, the greatest alliance in the history of the world is NATO, not a joke, and he's blown it up,” he said. “He's had the worst 100 days any president has ever had.”

Biden has come under fierce criticism from Democrats for staying in the presidential race until last July, even in the face of polling that indicated a broad cross section of the country believed he was too old to hold the office and wasn't polling well against Trump. The inflection point came after Biden visibly stumbled over his words in a debate with Trump.

The former president defended his decision to remain in the race until late July, as he did in an interview with the BBC released Wednesday, saying that there were “still six full months” for Vice President Kamala Harris to make her case to the American public. When asked if he was surprised by her loss in November, he said he was not, while accusing Republicans of running a campaign of sexism against her.

“I wasn't surprised — not because I didn't think the vice president wasn’t qualified to be president — she is. She's qualified to be president of the United States of America,” Biden said. “I wasn't surprised because they went the route of — the sexist route.”

The former president was also asked about Harris’ own comments on “The View” in which she defended Biden's record, saying there was “not a thing that comes to mind” about what she would have done differently.

“First of all, I did not advise her to say that,” Biden said of Harris' remarks. “She has to be her own person. And she was."

"She was part of every success we had,” he added.

Biden, who said he remains in contact with Harris, said she has sought his advice on her next political move as she mulls a run for governor of California or another run at the White House.

“She's got a difficult decision to make about what she's going to do," he said. "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.”