President Biden, suffering the lowest poll numbers of any modern president, appeared Monday night on “Late Night With Seth Meyers,” but his outreach to young people might not have gone so well.
Mr. Meyers, who rails nightly against Republicans, asked about the viral online conspiracy theory that Mr. Biden and his campaign seek to use singer Taylor Swift to reach Gen-Zers, NFL fans and everyone in between to swing the election for Democrats.
“I have you on the hot spot here. Can you confirm or deny that there is an active conspiracy between you and Miss Swift?” Mr. Meyers said.
Hiding behind his signature Ray-Bans, the 81-year-old Mr. Biden said: “Where are you getting this information? It’s classified.”
The host then asked the president if Miss Swift plans to endorse him again, and Mr. Biden made the same joke: “I told you it’s classified.”
Mr. Biden might not want to be joking about classified information. Special counsel Robert Hur this month said there is evidence that Mr. Biden “willfully” retained and disclosed highly classified materials when he was a private citizen. It also highlighted his old age, confusion and “significantly limited” recall of events related to the documents.
Mr. Hur said he would not pursue criminal charges, citing Mr. Biden’s advanced age.
“We have also considered that, at trial, Mr. Biden would likely present himself to a jury, as he did during our interview of him, as a sympathetic, well-meaning, elderly man with a poor memory,” he wrote in his final report.
In the softball interview, Mr. Biden also addressed his age and public image. He said scrutiny should be on his likely political opponent, drawing attention to an incident where former President Donald Trump confused his wife’s name with a host of the Conservative Political Action Conference.
“You got to take a look at the other guy. He’s about as old as I am, but he can’t remember his wife’s name,” Mr. Biden said.
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