Read the Full Transcript of President Biden’s ABC News Interview

ABC News taped its interview with President Biden on Friday afternoon and aired itat 8 p.m. Eastern time. Following is a transcript of the interview, which lasted about 20 minutes, between George Stephanopoulos and the president, as released by ABC News.

GEORGE STEPHANOPOULOS: Mr. President, thank you for doing this.

PRESIDENT BIDEN: Thank you for having me.

STEPHANOPOULOS: Let’s start with the debate. Eh, you and your team said, have said you had a bad night. But your —

BIDEN: Sure did.

STEPHANOPOULOS: But your friend Nancy Pelosi actually framed the question that I think is on the minds of millions of Americans. Was this a bad episode or the sign of a more serious condition?

BIDEN: It was a bad episode. No indication of any serious condition. I was exhausted. I didn’t listen to my instincts in terms of preparing and — and a bad night.

STEPHANOPOULOS: You know, you say you were exhausted. And — and I know you’ve said that before as well, but you came — and you did have a tough month. But you came home from Europe about 11 or 12 days before the debate, spent six days in Camp David. Why wasn’t that enough rest time, enough recovery time?