President Biden quickly left the East Room of the White House on Wednesday after the Medal of Honor ceremony, ignoring questions about his health.
The 81-year-old commander-in-chief has faced mounting pressure to withdraw his re-election bid following his disastrous performance in last week’s debate.
After awarding the Medal of Honor to two Union soldiers who fought during the Civil War at the ceremony, he quickly headed for the exit while dodging questions.
Despite a throng of media outlets stationed near the East Room exit, a glowering Biden stared straight ahead and ignored a barrage of questions.
On Wednesday, Biden assured campaign staff in a call that, despite growing calls for him to resign, he remains in the race for the 2024 presidency.
After awarding the Medal of Honor to two Union soldiers who fought during the Civil War at a ceremony Wednesday, he quickly exited and dodged questions.
He said: ‘Let me say it as clearly as I can, as simply and directly as I can: I’m running, no one is pushing me.
“I’m not leaving. I’m going to continue in this race until the end and we’re going to win.”
The warranty comes after a New York Times Report who said Biden told a key official that he was considering ending his reelection bid.
“He knows if he has two more events like that, we’ll be in a different place” at the end of the weekend, the ally said, referring to the president’s debate performance and upcoming events.
The White House denied the report, with Biden’s deputy press secretary Andrew Bates writing on X: “That claim is absolutely false. If the New York Times had given us more than 7 minutes to comment, we would have told them so.”
White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre also told reporters during her briefing Wednesday that Biden is not preparing to drop out of the race.
Jean-Pierre spent the better part of an hour being questioned about the President’s health and confirmed that while he still has a cold, he has not seen a doctor.
Jean-Pierre claimed that jet lag from his two consecutive international trips 12 days before the debate contributed to the president’s poor performance.
He also confirmed that Biden has not undergone a medical exam since February.
Biden speaks during a presidential debate with Republican presidential nominee former President Donald Trump, Thursday, June 27, 2024.
A new poll shows Donald Trump has an average three-point lead in the seven key states after the debate with Joe Biden last week
Biden himself even admitted that he nearly fell asleep on stage during a fundraiser in the upmarket DC suburb of McLean, Virginia, on Tuesday night.
He told the crowd that he was “not very smart” for “traveling around the world a couple of times” before his televised showdown with former President Donald Trump.
Biden made two consecutive trips to France to celebrate the anniversary of D-Day and then to Italy for the G7 in June.
Upon his return, the president took a vacation at his vacation home in Rehoboth Beach, Delaware.
Biden then spent a full week at the presidential residence at Camp David resting and preparing for the debate.
The New York Times reported Tuesday that Biden was so exhausted from jet-setting that advisers cut debate preparation short by two days so he could make the trip to the beach.
While at Camp David, debate preparation did not begin before 11 a.m. and Biden was given time each day in the afternoon to take a nap.
The president made it clear at Tuesday’s campaign rally that his trip “is not an excuse but an explanation.”
President Joe Biden speaks during a Medal of Honor ceremony at the White House in Washington, Wednesday, July 3, 2024.
Biden will host the annual Independence Day party at the White House on Thursday and travel to Madison, Wisconsin, on Friday, where he will sit down with ABC News for his first post-debate interview.
The president will then head to a campaign stop in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, on Sunday.
Both Wisconsin and Pennsylvania are key states that will help determine the outcome of the 2024 race.
In those states and the other five battleground states, Trump has taken the lead in the polls after the debate in Atlanta, Georgia, on Thursday, June 27.
Since the debate, Biden and his team have conducted extensive damage control, reaching out to party members, staff, lawmakers, donors, allies and voters to assure them that Biden remains a viable candidate who can beat Trump again.
But many within the party are looking at other options, considering Vice President Kamala Harris, California Gov. Gavin Newsom and Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer.
None can beat Trump in national polls and in battleground states, and all fall behind Biden in his chances of winning against the former president.
