-Welcome back to "Late Night."
We're here with President Joe Biden.
Um, you mentioned some classified materials,
some documents recently leaked --
some classified documents.
And this isn't a gotcha show, but I do want to ask about it.
It says you are currently 81 years old.
-Who the hell told you that? -Yeah.
-That's classified. -That's classified.
All jokes aside, according to recent polling,
this is a real concern for American voters.
How do you address that concern, going forward,
as you come up to the 2024 election?
-Well, a couple things. Number one, you got to
take a look at the other guy. He's about as old as I am,
but he can't even remember his wife's name.
-Yeah. -And, uh...
[ Laughter and applause ]
Number one. Number two, [Chuckles]
it's about how old your ideas are.
Look, I mean, this is a guy who wants to take us back.
He wants to take us back on Roe v Wade.
He wants to take us back on a whole range of issues
that are, 50, 60 years,
they've been solid American positions.
And I really mean this sincerely.
The -- I think it's about the future
and everything -- every single thing we've done,
I think we've gotten some good things done.
Everything -- And they told us we couldn't get them done,
because things were so divided.
And -- But I think everything -- everything we've gotten done,
he's just frontally stated
he wants to do away with if he gets elected.
And I really think his views on where to take America
are older than... Anyway...
I don't want to get called. [ Laughter ]
-You talked about bipartisanship and that you could actually work
across the aisle when you ran in 2020.
I was one of the people who thought
that was maybe a foolish proposition.
But you have gotten things done. Um, infrastructure, CHIPS,
Inflation Reduction Act, some gun safety.
You even got an immigration bill that passed in the Senate
but never got taken up in the House.
-It will be. -And what do you want to do?
What's your 2024 agenda?
Because I feel like we live in such crazy times
that that is one of the things I feel we hear less about.
-Look, the 2020 agenda is to finish the job.
For example, we're now in a position
where we have the strongest economy
of any major nation in the world.
Number one. We've got a way to go yet.
Inflation is down. 880,000 manufacturing jobs.
You know, we have 14 million new jobs.
The unemployment rate is the lowest it's been
for the longest time.
We're building wealth for people.
But it really -- we have to do more.
First thing I have to do is stop it from being turned around.
For example, you talked about the border didn't pass.
Well, guess what? We're going to pass that border.
It's overwhelmingly, overwhelmingly supported
by Republicans and Democrats in the House and Senate.
But because -- I don't know this for a fact,
but I was told that -- Trump was picking up the phone,
calling the Speaker of the House,
saying, "Don't let it pass." Why?
Not because he doesn't think it's good.
Because it will benefit Biden.
That's no way to run a country. That's no way to deal.
We didn't -- Even when we had real divisions,
back when I was a young senator, among Democrats and Republicans,
that wasn't the way it worked.
And look, I think -- Let me put it --
This is not your father's Republican Party.
-Yeah. -They got about 30%
of the Republican Party controlling it all.
And I think we're going to break it.
-One of the things about,
"This is not your father's Republican Party,"
it must be, for somebody who's been doing this
as long as you have,
you can't get aid for Ukraine passed.
And it seemed like, for a long time,
the American people agreed that Russia was a threat.
And all of a sudden, now you see a Republican Party
that is basically refusing to aid Ukraine
in their fight against --
Seems like Donald Trump is saying Russia can do
whatever they want to NATO countries.
Are you shocked? -Not "seems like."
That's what he is saying. He's been saying it all along.
He's been saying it when he ran the last time.
Look, the idea that any American -- Think about this.
If I told you all there was going to be
an American president who said to Putin -- Putin --
"Come do whatever you want and to NATO
if they don't -- if the other guys on our team
don't pay up every single cent they promise to pay for" --
I mean, what are we talking about here?
What in God's name -- How -- The idea that the president
of the United States is inviting Vladimir Putin
to invade Eastern -- Western countries
is bizarre -- absolutely bizarre --
and it's totally against our interest.
And by the way,
I've known every major foreign leader for the longest time,
and I know all of these guys extremely well.
They're scared to death what it means for them --
for them -- what it means if we walk away.
Madeleine Albright was right -- the former secretary of state.
She said, "We are the essential nation."
We are the essential nation.
We don't have people fighting in those areas,
but we're providing the wherewithal for them
to be able to protect themselves.
And it's just outrageous what he's talking about.
-He talked about how he wants to be a dictator
on day one, but only day one.
You are someone who has dealt with dictators over the years.
It does seem as though democracy,
in vague terms, somehow is not easy for us to grasp.
Having dealt with dictators, what do you see
in a world where democracy is actually at risk
in a way it might be in this election?
-The first thing they do -- dictators do --
is they disregard whatever the rule of law is.
They just disregard it.
Here's the guy who says he wants to --
he thinks he can change the Constitution and ignore it.
Just ignore portions of the Constitution.
Here's the guy who talks about retribution.
Here's the guy -- Look, you have the guys,
the thousands of people who stormed the Capitol --
stormed the Capitol.
They're insurrectionists. Two cops died.
Other people were badly hurt. And what did he say?
They got convicted and/or they pled guilty.
And he said they're patriots? God, patriots?
And he says he's going to forgive them all?
He's going to -- You're going to --
Every one of them is going to be released?
What is -- I mean, that -- that's what happens
in Eastern European countries.
That's not what happens in America.
We're -- And the idea that he thinks he can do that,
the idea he talks about things like, for example,
the idea that he said the Congress wants to pass
an overwhelmingly -- a border provision
that would allow us to control the border.
First bill I ever introduced called for that.
And here they're saying -- he's saying, "No, don't do that
because that'll help Biden."
Help Biden? It's about -- not about Biden.
It's about the United States of America.
And look, it just -- I don't want to get started.
[ Laughter ]
[ Cheers and applause ]
I really don't. -Yeah, I get it, I get it.
-Our democracy is at stake. It literally is.
-I want to ask about the situation right now
in the Middle East. You have forcefully spoken
about the horrible events of October 7th,
and how Hamas is a continuing threat
to the safety of the people who live in Israel.
You've been negotiating -- trying to negotiate --
the release of the hostages. At the same time, you've said
that the response in Gaza is too much,
and that the loss of an innocent life in Gaza
is just as horrible as the loss of an innocent life in Israel.
And yet there have been calls for an immediate cease-fire.
You have not supported those calls.
Again, you seem like an optimistic person.
You believe maybe there's a future for a two-state solution.
But from where I'm sitting, it does seem like there
doesn't seem to be any appetite for that right now.
Do you see -- What is --
Because again, we see this horrible -- Every day,
we see this horrible images out of Gaza.
And is there a path forward?
Is there a safe future for the people who live there?
-There is a path forward, with difficulty.
But here's the path forward. Look, first of all,
there are -- the hostages being held must be released.
And we've got -- at least, in principle -- an agreement
there will be a cease-fire while that takes place.
Ramadan is coming up, and there's been an agreement
by the Israelis that they would not engage in activities
during Ramadan, as well,
in order to give us time to get all the hostages out.
That gives us time to begin to move in directions
that a lot of Arab countries are prepared to move in.
For example, Saudi Arabia is ready to recognize Israel.
Jordan is, Egypt.
There are six other states. I've been working with Qatar.
And the bottom line is that I'm not --
I think the only way Israel ultimately survives --
and I make no bones about it --
I get criticized for having said a long time ago,
you need not be a Jew to be a Zionist.
I'm a Zionist. Were there no Israel,
there's not a Jew in the world will be safe.
But here's the deal.
They also have to make -- take advantage
of an opportunity to have peace and security
for Israelis and Palestinians who are being used as pawns
by -- by the -- by Hamas.
And so there's a process under way
that I think if we get that -- that temporary cease-fire,
we're going to be able to move in a direction
where we can change the dynamic
and not have a two-state solution immediately,
but a process to get to a two-state solution,
a process to guarantee Israel's security
and the independence of the Palestinians,
but without them being able to, for example, invite in the --
you know, another country to provide their defenses.
There's ways to do this.
And I don't have time to go into it now,
but -- and in the meantime,
there are too many innocent people that are being killed.
And Israel has slowed down the attacks in Rafah.
They have to -- And they've made a commitment to me.
They're going to see to it that there's ability
to evacuate significant portions of Rafah
before they go and take out the remainder of Hamas.
But it's a process. And look,
Israel has had the overwhelming support
of the vast majority of nations. If it keeps this up
without -- this incredibly conservative government,
they have, and Ben-Gvir and others -- most --
I've known every major foreign policy leader in Israel
since Golda Meir --
they're going to lose support from around the world,
and that is not in Israel's interest.
-Well, I wish you the best of luck with that,
because they are really horrifying scenes,
and I'm happy to hear you agree with that, as well.
I do want to close by thanking you for something.
When you were here in 2014, you gave me two gifts.
First, you gave me an Amtrak whistle, and...
[ Laughter ] [ Whistle blows ]
And, uh, it was 10 years ago. I didn't have kids yet.
And I have kids now, and it's their favorite thing.
And they blow it all the time, and it's really irritating.
So I want to give it back. [ Laughter ]
[ Applause ]
And...
-I'm not going to take it back. [ Laughter ]
-It's covered with germs. -We're gonna give it
to your kids. -[ Laughing ] Yeah.
Also, you gave me this -- this conductor's hat.
And this meant the world to me because, um, when I put it on,
I realized that you didn't just buy this at a store.
You obviously went out of your way.
You got my hat size,
because when I put it on, it was such a perfect fit.
And... [ Laughter ]
-Let's get moving. [ Laughter ]
-Let's get moving. Um, I really want to thank you
so much for being here, Mr. President.
It means the world to celebrate the anniversary with you.
That's President Joe Biden, everybody.
We'll be right back with more "Late Night."