With President Biden fighting to shore up his candidacy amid increasingly vocal doubts from fellow Democrats, ABC has decided to air the president's interview with George Stephanopoulos earlier than planned. Deadline reports that the network had originally planned to air the interview "in dribs and drabs through the week and weekend," but it said Wednesday evening that it will now air as a primetime special at 8pm Eastern on Friday. It will air again on This Week on Sunday.
The first clip from the interview will appear Friday on World News Tonight. ABC said Wednesday that the interview will be conducted in "Wisconsin on the campaign trail earlier on Friday." Variety describes the change in the broadcast schedule as a sign of the "extreme interest" in seeing Biden address issues of age and mental fitness after his poor performance in his debate with Donald Trump last week.
Biden rarely grants in-depth media interviews and this will be his first with a national network since the debate. It's not clear how long he will be talking to Stephanopoulos. The campaign rejected reports Wednesday that the interview could be as short as 15 minutes, the Daily Beast reports. Biden told campaign staffers on Wednesday that he's planning to stay in the race, saying, "I'm the nominee of the Democratic Party. No one's pushing me out." (More President Biden stories.)