Biden surrogate admits president had a 'bad night' at debate: 'Certainly not the finest hour'

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Biden surrogate Gov. Walz admits debate was 'bad night' for president

Gov. Tim Walz, D-Minn., reacts to President Biden’s performance during the CNN Presidential Debate and defends his policies.

Biden surrogate Gov. Tim Walz, D-Minn., continued to defend the president's candidacy Friday despite repeatedly admitting he turned in a "bad" performance at the CNN Presidential Debate.

"He had a bad night last night. I hate these debates. I've been through dozens of them myself, but they're performative," Walz told "America's Newsroom" Friday. 

"Donald Trump is a performer. I'll admit it, he's entertaining… but that's not governing, that's not what it takes to get things done."

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President Biden and former President Trump debated on Thursday night.  (Getty Images)

With a raspy voice and delivering rambling answers, President Biden struggled during portions of Thursday night's debate. He also lost his train of thought several times, raising concerns among his closest allies in politics and in the media about his fitness for a second term.

Anchor Bret Baier pressed Walz on Biden's inability to convince the American people in 90 minutes that he was "up to the task" for another four years.

"Certainly not the finest hour," Walz responded. "But at the end of the day we understand this is about two visions in America. One that's a decent man in Joe Biden that cares about what happens to the middle class. Then there's Donald Trump. We know what that looks like. The lie after lie doesn't change the fact that that presidency did not serve this country well."

"Look, I hear the concerns on this," he continued. "The president is going to get another opportunity to do this. We all have these days. Not every broadcast is perfect. Not everything that we do on it is where we want it. But we got to come back and make the case because the contrast is too great."

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A CNN flash poll posted on air after the debate revealed 67% of debate watchers felt Trump won the debate compared to 33% who believe Biden won.

Looking ahead to the next and final presidential debate in September, Walz said Biden needs to stress that Trump "is not there to deliver" policies that help the American people.

"Joe Biden has done that, delivering on infrastructure, delivering on what we need, and he needs to come back – I'll give you that – he needs to come back and make the case." 

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Fox News' Brooke Singman and Andrew Mark Miller contributed to this report.