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Biden, who gives few one-on-one interviews and holds few news
conferences, taped an extensive interview with British podcaster
Jay Shetty, whose "On Purpose" is the No. 1 mental health
podcast in the United States, according to analytics firm
Chartable.
Biden, who grew up in Scranton, Pennsylvania, said he was once
attacked by a neighborhood bully in the alley behind the house,
and his mother, Catherine Eugenia Finnegan, advised him how to
respond:
"My mother said, 'Joey go back out there. Wait until he walks up
to you, and as soon as he does, smack him right in the nose.
I’ll give you 50 cents.'"
"I said, 'Why Mom?'"
"She said, 'You won't be able to walk in that alley again if you
don’t.'"
"I was scared to death. I walked down, popped him in the nose,
it bled and he ran, and I thought, 'Huh,'" said Biden.
Biden, who has emphasized compromise in his dealings with
Republican opponents and foreign peers, told Shetty how he
approaches negotiating.
"I try to understand what is motivating the other person when
I'm doing things internationally or personally," he said.
"There's a shot even with the bad guys that you can break
through and get something done."
Biden in the podcast also said, "I have seven grandchildren." He
publicly acknowledged his seventh grandchild for the first time
on Friday in a statement to People Magazine. The 4-year-old girl
is the child of Biden's son, Hunter, who settled a years-long
court battle over child support in June.
Biden explained to Shetty why he was acknowledging the seventh:
"Being there is important and makes such a difference."
Biden revealed that he watches little television but has a
steady stream of movies for watching in the White House theater.
One that is on the list but he hasn't seen yet: "Oppenheimer,"
about the development of the atom bombs dropped on Japan in
World War Two.
(Reporting By Steve Holland; Editing by Heather Timmons and
Leslie Adler)
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