Here's How Joe Biden Responded to Stories About Beau Urging Him to Run for President from His Deathbed

Joe Biden addressed the claims that his deceased son Beau Biden's last wish was his father should run for the presidential elections. Former Delaware Attorney General died of brain cancer in May 2015 and according to some reports, he persuaded his then-vice president father Biden to run for the White House shortly before his death. However, the now-81-year-old rubbished these rumors. 

In an interview with 60 Minutes, Biden dismissed reports saying his son Beau pleaded from his deathbed that his father, who was the running mate to then-President Barack Obama, take a shot to be the commander-in-chief of the United States, as per Daily Mail. "Beau, from the time he was in his 30's -- or actually his late 20's -- he and Hunter were my most reliable advisers." 

"Beau all along thought that I should run and I could win," he continued. "But there was not what was sort of made out as kind of this Hollywood-esque thing that, at the last minute, Beau grabbed my hand and said, "Dad, you've got to run", like win one for the Gipper." Meanwhile, he clarified that he didn't launch a presidential campaign because he knew he "couldn't win" against Hillary Clinton.

"I'll be very blunt," explained Biden. "If I thought we could've put together the campaign that our supporters deserved, that our contributors deserved, I would've done it." In response to why it took him so long to decide he wasn't going to campaign for the president's role, he opined "Everybody grieves at a different pace," referring to his son's loss during the same time. 

"It just takes time, and until you get there, you know, it's not an appropriate thing to throw your -- and by the way -- you can't run for president unless you throw your entire being into it," he expounded, adding, "I still think I could do a better job than anyone else could do. That's the reason to run -- I wouldn't run against Hillary." 

Biden weighed in, "I've debated Hillary 13 times in national presidential debates. I know Hillary. I know her debating skills, I know mine. I've never had any doubt about her intellect or her capacity to debate, and I thought she did a - she comported herself really well. She's already made a decision on two important things -- it doesn't mean she won't be a great president." 

Beau, who was also an Iraq War veteran, believed in his father's ability to serve as America's leader. In an interview with CNN's Chris Cuomo in 2018, Biden revealed his son wanted him to remain in the public arena. "What he meant was that I wasn't going to walk away from my obligations," the then-VP recalled. "He wanted to make sure I stayed in the public arena. That's all I’ve done my whole life." 

In the face of family tragedy, Biden shared that he now considers what his late son would do in a situation before making a decision, saying, "[He is] trying like hell to do everything [that] Beau would want me to do."