Biden to hold high-stakes interview with NBC at start of RNC

President Joe Biden will participate in a one-on-one interview with NBC Evening News anchor Lester Holt next week, marking the president’s second cable TV appearance since his shaky debate performance plunged his candidacy into crisis.

The interview will be taped Monday in Austin, Texas, and broadcast in full at 9 p.m. the same day, NBC News announced Wednesday — providing primetime counterprogramming for the first day of the Republican National Convention in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. The president will be in Austin to visit the Lyndon B. Johnson Presidential Library for the 60th anniversary of the Civil Rights Act.

Select portions of the interview will air during NBC Nightly News at 6:30 p.m. Monday, the network said, but the 9 p.m. broadcast will not be edited.

Biden’s meeting with Holt comes after his high-stakes interview with ABC News’ George Stephanopoulos on Friday failed to fully calm concerns about his candidacy within the Democratic Party. Biden told Stephanopoulos that only the “Lord Almighty” could convince him to leave of the presidential race, and provoked Democratic anxiety about his “as long as I gave it my all” response when asked how he would feel about losing to former President Donald Trump.

The president’s other recent media appearances have also led to scrutiny of his campaign. Over the weekend, a radio station in Philadelphia separated from one of his hosts after she revealed that the Biden campaign provided her with a list of suggested questions to ask the president. A person familiar with the campaign booking operation later said he would discontinue this practice, POLITICO previously reported.

The interview with Holt offers Biden another opportunity to prove he is capable of being re-elected — and another potential posturing for the many Democrats still in power. “Wait and see” mode as calls grow for the president to step aside. After Biden’s disastrous debate performance in June, many of the Democrats urged Biden to appear in front of voters in improvised formatsincluding through interviews with journalists.

Biden’s one-on-one with Holt will be the second of his presidency, after he sat down with the former NBC Nightly News anchor in February 2022 for a conversation focused on the Covid-19 pandemic, inflation and tensions between Russia and Ukraine.