Trump appears on Hannity for first interview since debate: Live updates

“Well, I think that it will be her. I think they are very concerned about the vote. If it’s not her, they are very, very, I mean, they’re gun shy. They don’t want to do it any other way.

“She didn’t do a good job, and she hasn’t done a job on a lot of things so but it would seem to me that from a political standpoint, that’s who they’re going with. They’re not even talking about alternatives. And it seems that if, if he gets out for whatever reason, and I don’t think he wants to get out, but if he gets out, it will be her.

“Interestingly, he’s got a lot of power, because he’s got the delegates. You know, when you have the delegates, unless he says, I’m getting out, they can’t do anything to get him out, other than the 25th amendment.

“Would be the 25th amendment, but let’s assume, with not very much time left, you know, there’s not much time left, and then we can straighten out our country…But there’s not a lot of time left. But I think unless they use the 25th Amendment, which they’d use in a different sense, he has all the power. He has the delegates. He doesn’t have to get out. There’s nothing they can do to get him out. So he’ll get the nomination.”

“Well, they (news media) cover for him, and they still are sort of covering, but now it’s getting very difficult to do that. And you know, it looks to me like he may very well, and he doesn’t want to quit. He doesn’t want to do that,” said Trump.

“It just looks to me like that’s what he wants. I think Jill would like to see him stay she’s having a good time. I noticed she seems to be having a good time.

“And I I’m hearing that Hunter is calling the shots. So this isn’t necessarily a very positive thing for our country, but I think he, you know, might very well stay in and if he does, nobody wants to give that up that way.

“He’s going to feel badly about himself for a long time. It’s hard to give give it up that way, the way where they’re trying to force him out. So, I mean, you really have to speak to his doctors. But obviously he’s been sheltered by the fake news media. That’s why they call it the fake news.”

“Well, we prepared for him, but I don’t think it’s going to matter,” said Trump before listing off his supposed successes during his time in office.

“It was a strange evening. I will tell you it was a strange debate, because within a couple of minutes, the answers given by him were they didn’t they, they didn’t make a lot of sense,” Trump told Sean Hannity on Fox News.

“And I don’t know, maybe it was a good makeup job, or maybe it wasn’t, but he was a very pale looking man, and when he started to speak, I don’t know, I thought his voice was weak

Trump told Hannity that he could not really understand what Biden was saying.

“They weren’t even answers. They were just words put together that had no meaning, or sense. But for the most part, I didn’t really look over.”

President Joe Biden is attempting to head off calls for him to step aside with a defiant letter to congressional Democrats, in which he says exiting the race would be an affront to democracy.

Biden’s missive, which he released publicly on his X account on Monday ahead of Congress’s return to Washington, opens with a declaration that he is “firmly committed” to remaining a candidate in this year’s presidential election and to “running this race to the end, and to beating Donald Trump”.

Andrew Feinberg reports from the White House.

Speaking to Fox News, Donald Trump claimed Hunter Biden was “calling the shots,” and those around the president were “covering for him”.

In an interview on Monday, the former president was asked about how he would feel about the possibility of Biden dropping out of the presidential race.

“Well, we prepared for him, but I don’t think it’s going to matter,” he told Fox News’ Hannity.

“They cover for him, and they still are sort of covering, but now it’s getting very difficult to do that. And you know, it looks to me like he may very well, and he doesn’t want to quit. He doesn’t want to do that.

“I think Jill [Biden] would like to see him stay she’s having a good time. I noticed she seems to be having a good time, and I I’m hearing that Hunter is calling the shots.

“So this isn’t necessarily a very positive thing for our country, but I think he might very well stay in… you really have to speak to his doctors. But obviously he’s been sheltered by the fake news media.”

Donald Trump said he was “so upset” with Joe Biden, in his first interview since their presidential debate, which he described as a “strange evening”.

Speaking to Fox News’ Hannity on Monday, he said: “I walked out on stage and he looked extremely pale, to put it nicely, and I don’t know maybe it was a good makeup job, or maybe it wasn’t, but he was a very pale looking man.”

“And when he started to speak. I don’t know, I thought his voice was weak. I didn’t know exactly what was happening – it was strange.”

Trump continued: “It was a strange evening guy will tell you, it was a strange debate, because within a couple of minutes the answers given by him, they didn’t make a lot of sense.”