By Lee Moran
Former President Joe Biden claimed that world leaders and U.S. lawmakers from both sides of the aisle are reaching out to him for advice and to ask him to remain active in politics amid his successor, President Donald Trump鈥檚, divisive second term.
Biden is still involved in politics but now remains behind the scenes, he told the Society for Human Resource Management in San Diego on Wednesday after being asked how he鈥檚 now filling his 鈥渘ewfound time鈥 since leaving office.
Watch the moment here.
鈥淚 stayed engaged because I really cared about what I was doing. Many things I worked so damn hard [on], that I thought changed the country, are changing so rapidly,鈥 Biden said, a reference to Trump鈥檚 ongoing bid to gut most of his policy achievements.
Biden later revealed, 鈥淚鈥檓 getting calls. I鈥檓 not going to go into it, I can鈥檛. From a number of European leaders asking me to get engaged. I鈥檓 not, but I鈥檓 giving advice. Because things are different. You know, I often ask the question, if America doesn鈥檛 lead the world, who can? Not a joke. Not because of power. Who could put it together? And mistakes, today, have significantly greater consequences than they did 50 years ago.鈥
鈥淗ow can you just walk away?鈥 Biden asked. 鈥淵ou don鈥檛 see me out there publicly doing a lot of this. But I鈥檓 also dealing with a lot of Democrats and Republican colleagues, all of them, wanting to talk, not because they think I have the answer, just to bounce things off me.
鈥淚鈥檓 not looking鈥 for it, he added. 鈥淭hey asked to see me, I see them.鈥
Biden, who in May revealed he had been diagnosed with an aggressive form of prostate cancer, also said he鈥檚 鈥渨orking like hell鈥 to write a new, 500-page memoir documenting his presidency.
鈥淭hey want me to just focus on the four years and talk about what happened and how it impacted on the world and/or if it did.鈥