Biden says he’ll continue policy work after leaving office: “I’m not going away”

Washington — President Biden told Americans he’s “not going away” after leaving the Oval Office in January, saying he plans to continue his foreign and domestic policy work. The president made the comment during an appearance on ABC’s “The View” on Wednesday morning in New York City.

As he prepares to leave the White House following decades in public office, Mr. Biden said he will continue to work on domestic policy matters with the University of Delaware’s Biden Institute and foreign policy matters with the Penn Biden Center for Diplomacy and Global Engagement in Washington, D.C. Both programs were established after he left the vice presidency in 2016. The Beau Biden Foundation, which works on behalf of vulnerable children in his late son’s memory, has also been an important passion of the president and First Lady Jill Biden. 

“I’m less concerned about what my legacy is,” Mr. Biden, 81, told “The View.” “Although I’m leaving, I’m not going away, because there’s so many other things I want to do in terms of the Biden Institute on foreign policy, Biden Institute in Delaware on domestic policy, to keep the things going that we started. And I think we’ll get it done.”

The Penn Biden Center is where classified documents were found from Mr. Biden’s time as vice president. Special counsel Robert Hur announced in February that charges weren’t warranted after an investigation. 

Mr. Biden, who previously chaired the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, has faced historic foreign policy challenges during his four years in office, including Russia’s war in Ukraine and the Israel-Hamas war. A cease-fire deal in the Middle East remains elusive, nearly one year after Hamas attacked Israel on Oct. 7. The crisis in the Middle East has widened, with Israel’s military hinting for the first time Wednesday of possible ground operations against Hezbollah in Lebanon. The U.S. is urging Israel to focus on diplomacy, rather than stepping up the conflict with Hezbollah. 

Mr. Biden has been increasingly vocal about how he doesn’t see eye to eye with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on his handling of the crisis in Gaza, and reiterated again Tuesday that there must be a two-state solution to solve the conflict.

“I don’t agree with his position,” Mr. Biden said of Netanyahu. “There needs to be a two-state solution.”

Mr. Biden has said little about his plans after the presidency since deciding not to run for a second term. He told “The VIew” he is “at peace” with his July decision to step aside from the race and allow Vice President Kamala Harris to become the Democratic nominee. 

“I am at peace with my decision,” he said, adding that he saw himself as as a “transition president.”