Interviewing Biden the 'saddest thing' as he 'couldn't finish a sentence': Sage Steele

Publish date: 2024-05-09

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Former ESPN host Sage Steele said that interviewing President Biden was “the saddest thing” because he seemed confused and “couldn’t finish his sentences.”

“He struggled,” Steele said of the oldest president in US history, who “trailed off” on topics even then, more than two years ago.

“So forget about politics. I don’t care, I didn’t vote for him,” Steele told Bill Maher on his “Club Ransom” podcast Sunday, admitting she thinks Biden is “a terrible president.”

“However, that made me sad,” she said of his apparent confusion.

“The human aspect of what we’re witnessing right now, to me, is heartbreaking,” she said of the now-80-year-old president facing escalating pressure over his age and a series of gaffes as he runs to stay in office.

Steele told the comedian that she interviewed Biden in March 2021 for a pre-recorded segment ahead of MLB’s Opening Day that year.

“It was [via] satellite, it wasn’t in person,” she explained, noting that she had to stall the chief executive as they waited for technical issues to be resolved.

Former ESPN host Sage Steele told comedian Bill Maher about her experience talking with President Biden before a March 2021 interview. Club Random Podcast / Youtube

“So I had to, like, BS. I had to chitchat, waiting for us to start rolling.”

Steele said she could not see the president as his staffers kept a lens cover over the camera “until the last second, but you can hear and we’re chitchatting.

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“So I can hear him and he goes, ‘What is this for? Wait — what’s her name?’” Steele recounted as Maher started laughing.

“I was going, ‘Oh my God!’ And then [an aide] said, ‘SportsCenter, ESPN.’ And he goes, ‘Oh, OK.’”

At that point, the president started to tell her about his own football career.

In high school, Biden was a standout halfback and wide receiver. He also briefly played football as a freshman at the University of Delaware.

“And so he started to tell football stories of his greatness,” Steele recounted, noting she still could not see him.

“He goes, ‘I have the best hands.’ What do you say to that?” Steele asked.

“And here’s the saddest thing — his voice just trailed off. He said, ‘I was good,’ and then he went silent, and he goes …, ‘Uh, never mind.’

“I thought it was so sad because I realized that’s why he was in the basement during the whole election cycle — because even then he couldn’t finish his sentences, he struggled.”

“So forget about politics. I don’t care, I didn’t vote for him,” she revealed. “However, that made me sad.”

Steele interviewed the president in a pre-recorded segment ahead of MLB’s Opening Day in 2021. ESPN
Steele’s podcast appearance came just days after Maher told Biden he should drop out of the 2024 presidential race. ESPN

Earlier in the discussion with Maher, Steele said she thinks Biden is a “terrible president.

“However, forget that — the human aspect of what we’re witnessing right now with him, to me, is heartbreaking. And it’s inexcusable by the family when you knew during the election.”

Steele’s podcast appearance came just days after Maher told Biden he should drop out of the 2024 presidential race.

Steele told Maher she thought it was “sad” that the president “couldn’t finish his sentences.” Club Random Podcast / Youtube

The host of “Real Time with Bill Maher” mocked Biden on Friday night, describing the president as the “only Democrat who can lose to Trump,” despite the men only having a four-year age difference.

“Someone has to convince President Biden that if he runs again, he’s going to turn the country back over to Trump and go … down in history as Ruth Bader Biden, the person who doesn’t know when to quit and so does great damage to their party and their country,” Maher said, referring to the late Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg.

“What matters is voters think Biden’s too old,” he continued. “What matters is he’s going to lose to Trump.”

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