Biden "wasn't surprised" that "sexist" attacks cost Harris election

Driving the news: Appearing on The View live on Thursday, Biden said he was "very disappointed" by Harris' loss but pointed the blame at Republicans' "sexist" attacks on her.

• "I've never seen quite as successful and a consistent campaign undercutting the notion that a woman couldn't lead the country and a woman of mixed race," he said.
• He added that the Democrats' loss was not an isolated event, saying that liberal democracies "all across the world" had suffered defeats.
• "I think we underestimate the phenomenal negative impact that COVID had and the pandemic had on people, on attitude, on optimism, on a whole range of things," Biden continued.

Zoom out: Trump has not shied away from making sexist remarks about his opposition, and Harris was no exception.

• As polls during the election suggested he was losing ground to Harris, Trump at one point shared a Truth Social post suggesting she had slept her way to the top.

Asked about allegations that his cognitive abilities had declined in his final year in office, Biden argued such sources "are wrong."

• "There's nothing to sustain that," he said.
• Former First Lady Jill Biden, who joined her husband for the couple's first joint interview since leaving office, jumped in, saying, "the people who wrote those books were not in the White House with us, and they didn't see how hard Joe worked every single day."
• The former president later added that the "only reason" he left the race "was because I didn't want to have a divided Democratic Party. "

What we're watching: Biden says he still speaks to Harris "frequently," and that she has "a difficult decision to make about what she's going to do."

• He added, "I hope she stays fully engaged."

Go deeper: Tensions rise between Harris and Biden teams as election nears