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A fan asked The "Good Morning America" anchor on the streets of New York on Tuesday, July 9, if Biden was fit to remain as commander-in-chief or if the president should step aside for a younger candidate.
"Do you think Biden should step down? You've talked to him more than anybody else has lately," the person says in a video obtained by TMZ.
Stephanopoulos appears to respond, "I don't think he can serve four more years."
It's unclear if Stephanopoulos knew he was being recorded.
The former President Bill Clinton staffer confirmed the comment and apologized through an ABC spokesperson. "Earlier today I responded to a passerby. I shouldn’t have."
The broadcast company distanced itself from the comment saying it was Stephanopoulos' opinion and was not the position of ABC News.
The interview between Joe Biden and George Stephanopoulos last week was supposed to quiet growing concerns over the president's age and mental acuity following his poor debate performance against former President Donald Trump last month. But that seems to have backfired as even the Fall River native and former Democrat operative Stephanopoulos left the discussion believing Biden can't serve another four years.
The president and current front-runner for the Democratic nomination attempted to make his case for why he should face off against former President Donald Trump for a second time in November.
"I'm the most qualified person to beat him, and I know how to get things done," Biden told Stephanopoulos.
He added he would consider dropping out if "the lord almighty comes down and tells me that, I might do that."
Biden would be 82 years old when he swears in for his hypothetic second term. Trump would be 78.
President Biden has not wavered publicly about continuing his run for a second term. However, many Democrats are beginning to say out loud what had been murmurs behind closed doors: He should step aside.
That includes Democrat US Rep. Seth Moulton, (MA-6). He said Biden's debate performance forced the issue.
"I watched the debate," he told WBZ-TV. "To be candid, I thought it was a disaster for the president. I think that was the reaction of most Americans who watched it. I came out of it saying we need to do something differently here."
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