Joe Biden has told aides he may have to step down as a 2024 presidential candidate, and what could prompt that decision as early as next week.
Allies who spoke to the New York Times said the 81-year-old He has acknowledged that the three appearances scheduled for this weekend will determine the success or failure of his re-election bid.
These include an interview with ABC on Friday night and campaign stops in Pennsylvania and Wisconsin.
An ally told the New York Times: “He knows that if there are two more events like that (the debate), we will be in a different situation.”
All are seen as crucial after last Thursday’s disastrous debate performance against Donald Trump, which fueled calls from other Democrats for Biden to step down.
President Joe Biden attends the first presidential debate hosted by CNN in Atlanta, Georgia, U.S., on June 27.
Biden and first lady Jill Biden arrive to speak at a campaign event in Raleigh, North Carolina, June 28, 2024.
White House aides have denied claims by The New York Times that an exit plan has been proposed.
These accounts are the first sign that the president is considering whether he can recover from his disastrous debate performance against Donald Trump.
His family, including his wife Jill and son Hunter, a former drug addict and criminal, are among the allies who have reportedly pushed him hardest to remain in the White House.
But despite the harsh words, Biden is said to privately admit that he may well have to step down in favor of a younger Democratic candidate to take on a rising Trump.
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.
He said: ‘Let me say this as clearly as I can, as simply and directly as I can: I’m competing, nobody is pushing me.
“I’m not leaving. I’m going to continue in this race until the end and we’re going to win.”
“If the New York Times had given us more than seven minutes to comment on it, we would have told them.”
Later Wednesday evening, Biden met with 20 Democratic governors at the White House to assure them he was fit to run.
New York Governor Kathy Hochul later said she and her colleagues unanimously supported Biden’s re-election bid.
But an anonymous Democratic source has since accused her of lying, telling the New York Times that there is far more ongoing discontent about Biden’s performance and abilities among governors than Hochul let on.
Senior advisers told the Associated Press they believe Biden may have just days to make a convincing showing of his suitability for the job before panic erupts in his party, according to two people familiar with the matter who insisted on anonymity to discuss strategy more freely.
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 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.
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 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.”
Meanwhile, incumbent Democrats have called on President Biden to drop out of the presidential race, dealing another blow to the campaign as defectors turn against him.
Arizona Democrat Raul Grijalva, 76, is urging Biden not to run again, The New York Times reported Wednesday. He is the second sitting Democrat to call for the president to withdraw.
President Joe Biden speaks during a Medal of Honor ceremony at the White House in Washington, Wednesday, July 3, 2024.
Two more House Democrats have openly said they believe former President Donald Trump will beat Biden, and that lack of confidence is sure to be a topic of conversation among party leaders set to take place tonight.
“If he is the candidate, I will support him, but I think this is an opportunity to look the other way,” Grijalva said.
“What he needs to do is take responsibility for keeping that seat, and part of that responsibility is to withdraw from this race.”
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.
