Joe Biden: The 60 Minutes 2020 Election Interview

when we spoke with joe biden this past. week in wilmington delaware. the former vice president was ahead in. the polls but confronting a withering. final assault from president trump. as the presidential campaign enters its. final full week. we also had questions for his running. mate california senator kamala harris. in our conversation joe biden discussed. how much he'd be influenced by. progressives within his own party.

whether his proposed tax increases would. hurt the economy. and how he views the current state of. the race. the story will continue in a moment. with less than two weeks to go before. election day you have held a steady lead. in the national. and state polls but so did hillary. clinton four years ago. could donald trump still win this sure. i'm one of those. folks are competitors it's not over. until the bell rings.

and i feel superstitious when i predict. anything other than. going to be a hard fight we feel good. about where we are but you know. i don't underestimate. how he plays what do you mean you don't. underestimate how he plays. well you know there's an awful lot of. talk out there about. that uh trying to sort of delegitimize. the election. all i think designed to make people. wonder whether or not they. should whether it's worth going to vote. just the intimidation factor.

but what really has pleased me is the. overwhelming. turnout in the states that have early. voting do you think there are a lot of. people who are going to vote for you. simply because you're not donald trump. well i hope there's going to be a lot of. people vote for him because of who i am. but i think the contrast between donald. trump and me is about as stark as it can. get. in terms of our value set and how we. view the world. i was listening to one of your podcasts. and you said we need some. revolutionary institutional changes.

like what well for example i think we. have to fundamentally change the way in. which we deal with. institutional racism for example. one of the hardest things is beyond. police issues. there's the issue of accumulation of. wealth there's an awful lot of. black americans who are equally as. they're as qualified as white americans. based on the same status they're in. terms of economic opportunity but they. don't get a chance. so for example we just made every.

corporation pay a minimum 15 percent tax. 91 pay no tax that raises over 400. billion dollars. i can send every single qualified person. to a four-year college in their state. for 150 billion. i can make sure every single person. qualifies community college can go and. we still have a lot of money left over. that's what i mean by significant. institutional changes. the non-partisan tax policy center and. others have questioned whether joe. biden's corporate minimum tax plan. would raise as much money as he.

estimates after our interview. mr biden's staff told us he misspoke and. that the cost of free public college. could be twice as much as he said the. president made the case at the. republican convention that your. administration would be a trojan horse. for liberals that aoc. bernie sanders elizabeth warren would. actually be controlling. policy that this would become the most. liberal administration in u.s history. he'd love to run against them wouldn't. he mr president you're running against. joe biden.

joe biden has a deep steep and. successful record. over a long long time but joe biden's. running mate's record. is less widely known kamala harris has. represented california and the u.s. senate. for almost four years you're very. different. in the policies that you've supported in. the past you're considered the most. liberal united states senator i. somebody said that and it actually was. mike pence on the debate stage. but yeah well actually the non-partisan.

gov track. has rated you as the most liberal. senator. you supported the green new deal you. supported medicare for all. you've supported legalizing marijuana. joe biden doesn't support those things. so are you gonna bring the policies. those progressive policies that you. supported as senator. into a biden administration what i will. do and i promise you this. and this is what joe wants me to do this. was part of our deal i will always share. with him. my lived experience as it relates to any.

issue. that we confront and i promised joe that. i will give him that perspective and. always be honest with him. and is that a socialist or progressive. perspective no. no it is the perspective of of a woman. who grew up a a black child in america. who was also a prosecutor who also has a. mother who arrived here at the age of 19.

from india. who also you know likes hip-hop. what do you want to know well i want to. give you i want to give you the. opportunity to address this because. at the republican national convention. president trump. made the case that joe biden is going to. be nothing more than a trojan horse. for socialist policies for the left wing. of the democratic party. are you going to push those policies. when you're vice president i am not. going to be confined to. donald trump's definition of who i or.

anybody else is. um and i think america has learned that. that would be a mistake. so just just to button that up because. you have fought for. medicare for all that's not something. that joe biden supports. if you become vice president would you. say to a. president biden you know what let's we. should really be pushing for medicare. for all not a public option that's just. not going to do it that's not my value. i would not have joined the ticket if i. didn't support what joe was. proposing and so our plan includes.

expanding on. everything that joe together with. president obama created with the. affordable care act by contrast. you have donald trump who's in court. right now. trying to get rid of a policy that. brought health care to over 20 million. people including protecting people. with pre-existing conditions and he's. doing it in the middle of a pandemic. that has killed. over 215 000 americans. what do you think is the biggest. domestic issue. america faces right now the biggest.

domestic issue is our health. right now covet covet the way he's. handling covet. is just absolutely totally irresponsible. he's telling people that we've turned. the bend at one of his recent rallies. well he's gone my grandpa would say he's. gone around the bend i mean we are in. real trouble. mr biden says he would spend up to 200. billion dollars to make sure schools. have the equipment and staff they need. to reopen safely. he also says he'd make greater use of. the defense production act.

to manufacture and distribute millions. of testing kits. for covet 19. we should be investing a. great deal more money in testing. and tracing a woman can go in to a drug. store and buy a pregnancy test and find. out at home whether or not she's. pregnant. we should be doing the same kind of. investment to see whether we're going to. have. testing kits for people to know it's not. enough to know. in seven days or five days or three days. whether or not you have covert. but congress did approve that money for. the nih well that's my point but it's.

not there. but they haven't done it they haven't. done it. people are worried about a national. lockdown and worried about jobs. the president's advisor now is. dr scott atlas and he is advocating. young people. go about their business and older people. sequester. nobody thinks he makes any sense nobody. no serious doc around the world but how. do you not lock down the economy. you don't have to lock down the economy.

it depends on the community. it depends on where it's real in real. trouble and you have to do things that. make sense that make it easier for. people to. avoid being exposed freedom is about. making sure that you care about the. people you're around that they be free. too. it's a patriotism to put this mask on. let's talk about the economy. yes you are proposing several trillion. dollars in new spending over the next. decade for. economic relief education health care.

how are you going to pay for that by. writing the tax code. you got billionaires in this country. making 700 billion dollars during this. crisis 700 billion dollars he wants to. terminate the tax cuts that we gave you. the former vice president has pledged to. undo the trump tax cuts for corporations. and wealthy americans. he'd raised the corporate tax rate from. 21 to 28 percent. he'd also raise taxes on people making. more than four hundred thousand dollars. a year.

and the top rate would be thirty nine. point six percent. nobody making less than four hundred. thousand dollars. will pay a penny more tax under my. proposal that's a promise that's a. guarantee a promise i give you my words. abide. that's an absolute guarantee and you. think it's a good idea to raise taxes. when the economy is in dire straits. depending who you're raising them on. look if you're rating somebody who's. making a billion dollars a year. it's not a problem if they pay 39.6. which everybody should pay raise another. 90 billion dollars.

the president says that's going to end. up sending jobs overseas he's sending. them overseas already take a look at. what's happened. we have another trade deficit that's. larger with china than when we were. there. actually that depends on how you. calculate it the overall trade deficit. with china was slightly lower in 2019. than it was during the last three years. of the obama administration. we are making sure the biden and trump. campaigns have been engaged in a running. battle. over who will be tougher on china let's. turn to foreign policy. what do you think is the biggest foreign.

threat. that america faces our lack of standing. in the world. look what he does he embraces every. dictator in sight. and he pokes his finger in the eye of. all of our friends. and so what's happening now is you have. you have the situation in korea. where they have more lethal missiles and. they have more capacity than they had. before. north korea north korea you have a. situation. in the gulf where you have iran closer. to a nuke.

having enough fissile material to get a. nuclear weapon than they had before. you have our nato allies backing away. from us because they say we can't count. on us. so he's moving away from what has. allowed us to bring the world together. which country is the biggest threat to. america. well i think the biggest threat to. america right now in terms of breaking. up. our our security and our alliances. is russia secondly i think that the. biggest competitor. is china and depending on how we handle.

that. we'll determine whether we're. competitors or we end up being. in a more serious competition relating. to force. domestically democrats have lost the. competition to control the u.s supreme. court listen who is on your list joe. mr biden is under pressure from his own. party to consider. increasing the number of justices if. elected it's called court packing. and while he said he's no fan of the. idea he's never completely ruled it out. judge amy coney barrett is on track to.

become the ninth u.s supreme court. justice. that would give the conservatives a 6-3. majority if elected would you move to. add. more justices to the supreme court. if elected what i will do is i'll put. together a national commission of. bipartisan commission of scholars. constitutional scholars. democrats republicans liberal. conservatives. and i will uh ask them to over a. 180 days come back to me with.

recommendations. as to how to uh reform the court system. because it's getting out of whack. um the way in which it's being handled. and it's not about court packing there's. a number of other things that our. constitutional scholars have debated and. i'd look to see what recommendations. that commission might make. this is a live ball oh it is a live ball. no it is a live ball we're going to have. to do that. and you're going to find there's a lot. of conservative constitutional scholars. who are saying it as well. the last thing we need to do is turn the. supreme court into just a political.

football whoever has the most votes gets. whatever they want. presidents come and go supreme court. justices stay for generations. i have not taken a penny from any. foreign source. ever in my life in the closing days of. the campaign. joe biden has been forced to address new. and unverified claims. that he was involved in his son hunter's. foreign business dealings. the president's personal lawyer rudy. giuliani says he came into possession of. emails allegedly belonging to hunter.

biden and turned them over to the. tabloid new york post. smoking gun emails mr trump and his. allies have called for an investigation. but the fbi would neither confirm nor. deny to 60 minutes. that one was taking place do you believe. the recent. leak of material allegedly from. hunter's computer is part of a russian. disinformation campaign. from what i've read and know the. intelligence community warned the. president that. giuliani was being fed disinformation. from the russians.

and we also know that putin is trying. very hard to spread disinformation about. joe biden. and so when you put the combination of. russia. giuliani the president together it's. just what it is it's a smear campaign. because he has nothing he wants to talk. about in his. what is he running on what is he running. on. we'll ask joe biden about his age and. mental sharpness. and ask senator harris what her role. would be in a biden white house.

when we come back. on the campaign trail president donald. trump paints former vice president joe. biden. as an aging career politician and. questions his mental acuity. this past monday in our conversation mr. biden frankly discussed his age. his health and why he believes kamala.

harris stands ready to become. president if necessary. the story will continue in a moment. if elected you would be the oldest. president in american history. but i'm in good shape 78 years old. 82 after four years donald trump says. you have dementia and it's getting worse. hey the same guy who thought that the 9. 11. attack was a 7-eleven attack he's. talking about dementia.

all i can say the american people is. watch me you see what i've done. you see what i'm going to do look at me. compare our physical and mental acuity. i'm happy to have that comparison. your age makes the choice of your vice. president. all the more important why do you think. senator harris would be ready. to step in and become commander-in-chief. if something were to happen to you. number one her values number two she is. smart as a devil number three she has a. backbone like a ramrod number four she.

is really principal the number five. she is uh has had significant experience. in the. large estate in the union running the. justice is only second in size to the. united states justice department. and you know obviously i i hope that. never becomes a question. kamala harris was the first woman and. first black person to be district. attorney of san francisco. and attorney general of california and. she's only the second black woman to. serve in the united states senate. do you think having the first woman of.

color the first woman as vice president. may change things i do. it helps change the perception of who. can do what. because that is still part of the battle. after all and you imagine. some young person then seeing oh. things can be different i don't have to. conform. to whatever i'm um you know supposed to. do or relegated to do. i can imagine what can be and be. unburdened by what has been.

you know what kind of role do you think. you would play in a biden administration. joe biden's partner one of the first. things he said was. um i want you to be the the first person. in the room and the last person in the. room. how often do you and joe biden speak. almost every day your next vice. president united states. kamala harris from the moment joe biden. selected her as his running mate. senator harris has become one of. president trump's. favorite targets and she's not competent.

she's not competent. on the campaign trail president trump. has attacked you frequently. he's called you a monster he said you're. nasty and it would be an insult to our. country if you became the first. female president do you see this as just. the rough. and tumble of politics or do you view. those attacks against you. as racist well. this is not the first time in my life. i've been called names and it you know. it was predictable sadly do you think.

the president is racist. yes i do yeah. i do you can look at a pattern that goes. back to him. questioning the identity of the first. black president of the united states. you can look at charlottesville. when there were peaceful protesters and. on the other side neo-nazis. and he talks about fine people on either. side. calling mexicans rapists and criminals.

his first. order of business was to institute a. muslim ban. it all speaks for itself president trump. has said he denounces racism and white. supremacy. after the black lives matter protests. that began this summer. joe biden has surrendered his party to. the flag burners. rioters the president tried to frame the. election as a choice. between law and order and biden and. harris there's a sense that there's a. divide out there. that in order to address systemic.

racism that it's anti-police. that you would not be a law and order. president. well let me put this way number one. i've never ever supported defunding. police matter of fact you give more. funding police for. different reasons number two any use of. violence burning down stores smashing. windows. that is a crime people should be. arrested no justification for it. there's never been a conflict with me. between law and order.

and dignity they're one and the same. the president said on the stump i've. saved the suburbs you should. you should thank me he would know a. suburban unit took a wrong turn. go out in the suburbs now it's not 1950. there. are black and white families living next. door to one another driving each other's. kids to soccer practice. this is a different world than he lives. in look there's a lot of reasons people. are upset. a lot of good reasons all he wants to do. is take that sort of. subliminal fear out there and say it's.

because because of that guy. or because of that woman that's not who. we are as a country. i we i mean this is not who we are. it's not our value system you know we. hold these truths to be self-evident. we've never met it. we've never met the standard but we've. always gone. further and further and further towards. um. this is the first president who's trying. to shut it down. we cannot sustain this democracy that. way. we're so much better than this.

moments from our interviews with the. candidates the way he's handling covet. is. just absolutely totally irresponsible. we've done a good job. we've done maybe a great job at 60. people minutesovertime.com.