Biden claims his mental acuity has been 'pretty damn good' and rejects he is in cognitive decline as he claps back at calls for him to drop of the race

President Biden said his mental acuity has been 'pretty damn good' and defended his fitness to serve as he bats down calls for him to step aside and not run for a second term.

The 81-year-old Commander-in-Chief sat down for an interview that was at times combative with NBC Nightly News anchor Lester Holt at the White House where Biden was pressed on his disastrous debate performance last month. 

Holt asked Biden who he listens to on the 'deeply personal issues' like decisions to stay in the race or not.

'Me,' Biden said defiantly. 'I've been doing this a long time, but the Idea I'm the old guy. I am. I'm old, but I'm only three years older than Trump, number one. And number two, my mental acuity has been pretty damn good.' 

Biden claimed he has gotten more done than any president has in a 'long, long time.' 

A defiant President Biden defended his fitness saying his mental acuity is 'pretty damn good'

Nineteen Democratic lawmakers have called on Biden to exit the race. The intensity of the criticism has subsided though since the attempted assassination on his political rival Donald Trump. 

When Holt told Biden that it appeared he was confused at the debate, the president became combative. 

'Why don’t you guys ever talk about the 18-- the 28 lies he told? Where-- where are you on this? Why doesn’t the press ever talk about that? Twenty-eight times, it’s confirmed, he lied in that debate,' Biden shot back referring to Trump. 

Biden repeated his stance that he had a bad night and screwed up.

President Biden went after the press during his campaign rally in Detroit on Friday in a move that was similar to his rival Donald Trump. He accused them of giving his GOP opponent a pass 

The president's criticism of the press comes after he also went after the media at his recent rally on Friday in Michigan. 

In a move that was similar to that of his political opponent, the president in Detroit accused the press of giving Trump a pass, and his supporters at the campaign rally booed the media.

 Biden and Holt went head-to-head over the coverage of the debate. Holt ended the exchange by stating they'll provide the president the reports. 

'God love you,' Biden responded.

President Biden accused the press of not covering his rival Donald Trump's lies during an interview with Lester Holt where the president at times was combative

President Biden defended his appearances since his poor debate performance and specifically pointed out his press conference at the end of the NATO summit where he answered questions for nearly an hour

Biden's campaign had been attempting to push past the poor debate performance and look ahead as the election season heats up. He has appeared for multiple interviews and campaign events since.    

'What I’m doing is going out and demonstrating to the American people that I have command of all my faculties, that I don’t need-- notes. I don’t need telepro-- I can go out and answer any questions at all,' Biden insisted to Holt.

The president pointed to his press conference at the end of the NATO summit last Thursday. Biden spoke for just under an hour and called on ten reporters for a total 19 questions. 

Holt asked Biden what happens if he has another performance like he did at the June 27 Atlanta debate.  

'I don’t plan on having another performance on that level,' Biden said.

When Holt thanked Biden at the end of the interview, Biden got in one last dig.

'Sometimes come and talk to me about what we should be talking about,' he said.