Geraldo Rivera on Biden’s debate performance: ‘I wanted to hug him’ 

Television news pundit Geraldo Rivera said he felt bad for President Biden after watching him debate former President Trump on Thursday night.

“It was so dramatic, it was jaw dropping and I felt so badly for our president. I wanted to hug him,” Rivera said during NewsNation’s coverage of Thursday night’s debate. “Why didn’t someone bring him a glass of water? Why was that microphone 6 miles away from his mumbling mouth?”

Biden’s poor performance during Thursday night’s debate led to some leading Democrats and media pundits to call for him to drop out of the race.

The president during Thursday night’s debate at times sounded hoarse, struggled to make coherent statements and spoke softly.

“What happened here cannot be minimized,” Rivera said. “I don’t care what party you are.”

Fellow pundit Bill O’Reilly joined Rivera during the panel discussion as part of NewsNation’s coverage said Biden was “off his game” and “melted down totally 20 minutes in.”

“That sound bite will be run a million times between now and Monday,” O’Reilly said. “And that’s what sticks in people’s minds.”

NewsNation is a cable news channel that, like The Hill, is owned by Nexstar Media Group.