Remarks by President Biden Before Air Force One Departure | Chicago, IL

12:13 A.M. CDT

THE PRESIDENT: I wanted to come over. You've been waiting a while. What - what do you got? Any questions?

Q What did you think of that reception you got there tonight?

THE PRESIDENT: Oh, it meant a lot to me. Very nice.

Q Are you angry at Nancy Pelosi? Are you going to speak with her?

THE PRESIDENT: No, I haven't spoken to Nancy at all. I mean, look, I made - no - no one influenced my decision. No one knew it was coming.

What I decided to do was - I didn't want to - to the extent that the party thought they'd lose Senate seats or House seats, it - that would have been the topic you would have had to cover the entire remainder of the campaign, and it wasn't worth it.

Q You teared up a little bit. Was it emotional for you tonight?

THE PRESIDENT: Well, it was. I mean, the reception was pretty overwhelming, and -

Q Do you feel at peace with your choice, or do you think you still could have won?

THE PRESIDENT: Well, you know, you always think you could have won. And if you go back and look at the numbers, we weren't that far behind. It was like we talked about how this was - we were getting blown out. That's not what we saw. But it was - it would have been close.

What have happened though, if the discussion had been was I going to cost seats for Democrats, that would have been the whole subject matter for the remainder of the campaign. You'd have to cover it, that would be the issue, and it would give him an advantage.

Anyway -

Q Mr. President, earlier, you said that Don- - you were asked a question about Donald Trump saying that you were taken out of this race because of a coup, and you said something about his stability. Could you expand on that - your reaction to Donald Trump saying it was a coup to take you out of the race?

THE PRESIDENT: (Laughs.) I think he has a problem. I mean, no one took me out of -

Q On the ceasefire talks -

Q Ceasefire talks -

Q On the status of them today -

Q Ga- - Gaza -

THE PRESIDENT: It's still in play. But, you know -

Q What?

THE PRESIDENT: It's still in play.

Q Okay.

THE PRESIDENT: But you can't predict what -

So far, as of four hours ago - I've not spoken with my team in four hou- - well, probably six hours now - Israel says they can work it out. They're prepared. But I was told Hamas was now backing off. But it remains to be seen. We're going to keep pushing.

Q Highlight - highlight - the highlight of the night for you, sir? The highlight?

THE PRESIDENT: My daughter's introduction.

Thank you.

12:17 A.M. CDT

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