Joe Biden: Can the world still rely on America?
The Interview
BBC
4.3 • 537 Ratings
🗓️ 8 May 2025
⏱️ 23 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Nick Robinson, presenter of BBC Radio 4’s Today programme and the Political Thinking podcast, speaks to former US President, Joe Biden.
The pair met in Biden’s home state of Delaware, in a hotel where he had launched his political career more than half a century ago.
In his first interview since leaving the White House, Biden talks about democracy under threat, Ukraine and the future of NATO, and America’s place in the world - all at a time when we commemorate the 80th anniversary of VE, or Victory in Europe, Day. Biden himself was just a few years old at the end of the Second World War.
He’ll also give his opinion on how his successor, President Trump, is faring so far in his second term. The Interview brings you conversations with people shaping our world, from all over the world. The best interviews from the BBC. You can listen on the BBC World Service, Mondays and Wednesdays at 0700 GMT. Or you can listen to The Interview as a podcast, out twice a week on BBC Sounds, or wherever you get your podcasts.
Presenter: Nick Robinson Producers: Ben Cooper, Katie Solleveld Editor: Max Deveson
Get in touch with us on email TheInterview@bbc.co.uk and use the hashtag #TheInterviewBBC on social media.
Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Hello, I'm Nick Robinson, presenter of BBC Radio Force Today program and the Political Thinking podcast. |
| 0:06.3 | And this is the interview from the BBC World Service, the best conversations coming out of the BBC, |
| 0:12.8 | people shaping our world from all over the world. |
| 0:16.5 | I will come back to Russia. I will participate in the elections. |
| 0:21.7 | There's an increase in violence according to the coca crop. |
| 0:25.8 | There is no place in the world where women are equal. |
| 0:27.9 | I will give away the vast majority of my money. It's my full-time focus for the rest of my life. |
| 0:35.1 | For this interview, I met former US President Joe Biden in his home state of |
| 0:39.7 | Delaware. In his first interview since leaving the White House, Biden talked about democracy |
| 0:45.0 | under threat, Ukraine and the future of NATO, America's place in the world, and how his successor |
| 0:51.2 | President Trump is faring in the Oval Office. |
| 0:59.5 | Indeed, it was Joe Biden who defeated President Trump's first bid for a second term when the pair faced off in the 2020-U.S. presidential election. |
| 1:04.6 | The results sparked the January 6th Capitol riots when Trump's supporters stormed Congress |
| 1:10.1 | in a failed attempt to thwart the certification |
| 1:12.7 | of Biden's victory amid false claims of electoral interference. Fast forward three years and the pair |
| 1:19.6 | faced off again as the main candidates in the 2024 US presidential election, with both men seeking |
| 1:26.5 | a second term in office. Biden's name, however, |
| 1:30.4 | never made it to the ballot box as concerns over his health forced him to give way, eventually, |
| 1:36.6 | to his vice president, Kamala Harris, to run on the Democrat ticket in his place. |
| 1:42.4 | I become so successful in our agenda. |
| 1:44.8 | It was hard to say, now I'm going to stop now. |
| 1:47.9 | I meant what I said when I started, that I think I'm prepared to hand this to the next generation. |
... |
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