2024-07-04 00:13:25
“We really want to turn the page on this issue,” White House press secretary Karin Jean-Pierre emphasized, commenting on calls for Biden to drop out of the race for the White House to give another Democratic candidate a chance.
Jean-Pierre said that Biden’s unsuccessful participation in the debate was due to the fact that he had a cold. During the debate, Biden coughed more than once.
Biden said at a campaign event on Tuesday that his poor performance in the debate was due to the time zone change because he had traveled to Europe beforehand.
“I wasn’t very smart. I decided to travel the world a couple of times,” the US president quipped.
He said he had not listened to his staff on the travel issue and joked that he “fell asleep on stage” during the debate.
After the 81-year-old Biden frequently mumbled, apologized and lost his train of thought during Thursday’s CNN debate, concerns have grown over whether he will be able to serve another four-year term.
Anxiety is growing among Democratic Party donors and in the Capitol about whether Biden will be able to defeat Trump in the November election, sources familiar with internal Democratic discussions told the AP.
There are many questions about whether Biden’s performance in the debate should be considered an isolated incident. Two people with the president behind closed doors told the AP that Biden is often precise and focused, but there are times, especially in the evening, when his thoughts seem jumbled, he stops mid-sentence or seems distracted. Those people spoke to the AP on condition of anonymity.
Biden’s family has also encouraged him not to withdraw from the election campaign.
The White House said that Biden will meet with congressional leaders in the near future and will have a meeting with state governors from the Democratic Party on Wednesday. On Friday, Biden will give an interview to ABC. The president is also scheduled to make trips to Wisconsin on Friday and Philadelphia on Sunday. In turn, next week he will hold a press conference during the NATO summit in Washington.
2024-07-04 00:13:25