President Joe Biden mangled his words when his farewell speech at the Democratic National Convention was delayed until late at night.
Biden’s opening remarks, which concluded Day 1 of the four-day meeting in Chicago, did not begin until 10:25 p.m. local time and concluded after clocks struck midnight on the East Coast.
The speech began in tears, with the president hugging his daughter Ashley, who had introduced him, and ended with Democratic nominee Kamala Harris and a crowd of Biden family members, including his son Hunter, at his side.
During the nearly hourlong speech, the 81-year-old touted his record, criticized former President Donald Trump, mocked his own stutter and vowed to help Harris win the White House in November.
“I promise I will be the best volunteer the Harris-Walz campaign has ever seen,” the president said.
President Joe Biden and First Lady Jill Biden were joined by Vice President Kamala Harris, the Democratic nominee, and Doug Emhoff, along with Hunter Biden and other members of the Biden family at the conclusion of the President’s speech at the Democratic National Convention.
President Joe Biden hugs his son Hunter Biden after delivering a speech Monday night at the Democratic National Convention in Chicago
President Joe Biden (right) wipes away a tear as he arrives to deliver his farewell address at the Democratic National Convention Monday night in Chicago. He was introduced by his first daughter, Ashley Biden (left)
President Joe Biden (left) walks off the stage with his baby Beau (right) after delivering his speech at the Democratic National Convention on Monday night. He is headed to California to spend the rest of the week
In typical Biden fashion, he botched a portion of the speech while talking about abortion rights.
“Women now don’t have electricity… they’re not allowed, sorry, not without electoral power, not without political power,” she stammered, while trying to cite the Supreme Court’s Dobbs case, which overturned Roe v. Wade.
As he slurred the words, he gave a knowing look and laughed.
Later in his speech he recalled his childhood stutter and how he persevered to become President of the United States.
“Nowhere else in the world could a child with a stutter and from modest backgrounds in Scranton, Pennsylvania and Delaware grow up and sit behind the Resolute Desk in the Oval Office,” he said. “That’s because America is and always has been a nation of possibilities, of possibilities. We must never lose that.”
President Joe Biden (right) hugged Vice President Kamala Harris (left) onstage at the Democratic National Convention after concluding his remarks.
President Joe Biden raises hands with Vice President Kamala Harris as family members flooded the stage after he concluded his remarks at the Democratic National Convention on Monday night.
He wholeheartedly supported Harris, and did so with humor.
Biden said choosing the US senator from California to be his vice president was the “best decision” he made in his decades-long career.
“Like many of our greatest presidents, she was also vice president,” he said.
The 81-year-old also protested, saying he was not angry at having to give up his ambition to serve a second term.
“All this stuff about me being angry at all the people who said I should resign, that’s not true,” he said.
He said he has five months left in office.
“I have a lot to do and I intend to do it,” he said.
“It has been an honor for me in life. I love my job, but I love my country more,” the president continued.
He insisted that was the determining factor when he made his surprise decision on July 21 to withdraw from the 2024 presidential race, endorsing Harris on the way out the door.
“I was too young to be in the Senate because I was not yet 30 and I was too old to still be president,” he said.
He noted that he had made “many mistakes” in his career. “But I gave them my best,” he said. “For 50 years, like many of you, I gave my heart and soul to the nation.”
Throughout the speech, he slapped Trump.
“Donald Trump says America is a nation in decline,” Biden said. “He’s the loser. He’s dead wrong.”
“America is winning and the world is better off for it,” the president said.
He criticized Trump for numerous “lies” while convention attendees booed references to the three-time Republican nominee.
“Trump continues to lie about crime in America, just like everything else,” Biden said. “During his term, the murder rate rose 30 percent, the largest increase in history… Now the murder rate is falling faster than at any time in history.”
“And crime will continue to decline when we put a prosecutor in the Oval Office, rather than a convicted felon,” Biden said.
Biden also accused Trump of lying about the border.
“Here’s what he won’t tell you: Trump killed the strongest bipartisan border agreement in American history,” the president said.
MAGA-aligned Republicans rejected a border deal in February, despite Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell’s support for it, because of Trump’s influence.
The Republican candidate has since criticized Biden for having an “open” border and will make a trip to a border town during this week’s Democratic National Convention.
“I never thought I’d be standing in front of a crowd of Democrats and calling a president a liar so many times,” Biden said. “I’m not trying to be funny,” he added. “It’s sad.”
Biden has delicately inserted himself into the drama of his own party.
He spoke of how he and Harris were working to complete a ceasefire deal in exchange for hostages, which could help end the war in Gaza.
As some pro-Palestinian Democrats turned their backs on Biden in a silent protest on the floor, the president threw a bone to the protesters, who took to the streets of Chicago ahead of the Democratic National Convention.
“The protesters taking to the streets are right. They are killing a lot of innocent people,” Biden said. “On both sides,” he added.
President Joe Biden’s family members in attendance Monday night included Finnegan Biden (bottom left), Hunter Biden’s wife Melissa Cohen (bottom right), Naomi Biden (top left) and her husband Peter Neal (top right).
Natalie Biden (left), one of the president’s granddaughters, sits next to her brother Hunter and looks at her cousin Maisy Biden and baby Beau.
From left: Natalie Biden, Finnegan Biden, Melissa Cohen and Maisy Biden stand and applaud before President Joe Biden’s appearance Monday night at the Democratic National Convention.
Before the president’s appearances, members of his family gathered in a special room located off to the side of the convention hall.
In attendance were grandchildren Naomi, Finnegan, Maisy, Natalie, baby Hunter and baby Beau, along with Hunter Biden’s wife Melissa Cohen, Naomi’s husband Peter Neal and Ashley Biden’s husband Howard Kerin.
Hunter remained out of sight until the president concluded his remarks, but then led the Biden clan toward the stage.
First daughter Ashley Biden introduced her father, calling him “the OG girls’ dad.”
“And he wasn’t just a father of girls. I could see how he valued and trusted women. How he listened to his mother. How he believed in his sister. And most of all, how he respected my mother’s career. Dad was always there doing everything he could to be a true partner to her,” Ashley said.
“Dad, you always tell us, but we don’t tell you enough, that you are the love of our lives and the life of our love,” she added.